Word is out that Messenger 8.1 is up on Connect for the testers, mostly Windows Live Butterflys, who have been accepted into the program, some 1689 testers, Mess.be is reporting, although many more are "pending". 

JCXP reports that roaming has improved:

At a glance, the aim of WLM 8.1 seems to be to provide users with a better roaming experience. It seems that your display picture is now stored remotely, so will remain the same when you use different computers. Users can now also set up seperate "locations", which can be made publicly visible by the user's contacts.