I agree with you both. There's only so much that can be done. Never hurts to ask though.
It doesn't make the game unplayable, but with recent computer builds and higher resolutions available, most of which can be supported by the latest versions of WinSP......its a question that has been on my mind. The Dev team supporting WinSP has done wonders to keep this old series relevant in a world filled with 3D arcade style "historical" war-games that are anything but and have produced more than one "hat trick" improvement.
Actually I do play in windowed mode by default, but at the higher resolution rates offered by the paid version of the games, the issue remains. (small text at the top of the screen and small text at the bottom of the screen during the combat phase)
lower resolution modes are an option. But I do love the detail artwork improvements in recent WinSP versions at higher resolutions. Anyway, if its impossible its impossible. I participated in the SP:WAW project and it had its own set of pros and cons. one of the pros was the SP3 engine central windowed messages. Maybe a future product can merge these pros.