Holo was finally starting to look really good. Google had got around to making most of their apps Holo, they had improved all the rough edges and inconsistencies, and then they pushed out Material design.
Don't get me wrong, I don't hate material design, but it seems like such a wasted effort restarting all that nonsense again.
I build web apps as a job and the impression I get is that everyone wants Material, "because" - but I don't know if anyone wants it other than "because" it's the buzzword of the day.
And it always sucks because the clients always say, "Follow Material guidelines BUT make this smaller, make this less round, use this font we paid for, make the buttons different, and also customize all these components".
The guidelines are a culmination of well-researched UX basics in practice. They're meant to be stylistically customizable to any brand, or user preference. It's just the best starting point in software design at the moment.
Can't say much about the article and how it affects websites but if you are talking about material you in general then it is very important to me. I am one of those who heavily customize when given a chance. Having a unified theme for my whole system or mobile makes it so much easier to change when I get bored of my current theme and want a new look. I often try to get material theme apps when possible just for the convenience and looks.
Sometimes I wonder if the reason is because Mozilla doesn't want to associate their browser with Google. It's just kind of a wild guess, but that's kind of what I think. But then again, Mozilla has some really weird branding fetish
I'm ok with material design (even have a Pixel 7, so I see it all the time), but I really wish the accent colours would have a little more saturation.
No matter what my wallpaper is, my buttons all just kinda look like off-white, and I think that makes it less legible, particularly annoying because my eyesight seems to be getting more iffy as the years go on.
I just want the option to have a more vibrant accent colour, as opposed to looking like a white piece of paper that a smurf has lightly breathed on