Gmail's Multiple Inboxes

Sometime back Gmail introduced a Labs feature called Multiple Inboxes. Its sounds far more promising than it is. Earlier one always had the option of getting all of one's mail from elsewhere forwarded to the primary Gmail inbox, have them filtered and automatically labelled as required, and then search/sort/read them accordingly. It was a clumsy workaround (because it cluttered my inbox), and I never really used it to pull email from other accounts.

With this feature enabled (and following the basic tips on the linked post), I can now have another window staring at my face with email from any seacrh parameter (in this case, the label that a separate email account has). Its handy, but still essentially just a couple of search panes.

I have wondered why we don't have genuine centralised accounts, that manage many email accounts. Multiple IDs is something a lot of people have now, for some purpose or the other. Why can't I just have a Google account that gives me tabs on top, each clicking through to a different Inbox? Even if this was limited to just Gmail IDs, it would be a great help.
In fact, if even this current search pane setup had the ability to be moved into a tab or have its window resized, I could streamline the look of my Inbox.

And oh, whats the point of being able to send emails 'as if from one of your other accounts' if the recepient reads that its from your main account "on behalf of the other account". Rubbish.

Brant over.