http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=9771
--- Comment #126 from Erik erik.welander@hotmail.com 2008-09-21 11:36:32 --- No, previously you were forced to resize the friends window all the time to get anything to refresh. Now you can chat without having to do that. Well, As long as you resize the window at steam start and then just let it be on the desktop.
btw, i noticed that if you change friends to show no avatars and show online users only, it will update if you get your mouse over anything, but I'm resizing at start to be sure anyway.