Thanks to Google Desktop Gadgets team, now you can access your Gmail on your desktop without even launching your email client or browser. The only thing you need is Google Desktop 5 or above and you are on.

The gadget does everything from reading, searching, staring and sending messages to contact auto-complete. The keyboard shortcuts are also similar to web-based Gmail. You can also open multiple instances of the gadget and log each into a different Gmail account. It sadly doesn’t have a sound notification.

You can get Gmail Desktop Gadget here.

[via Official Gmail blog]