I really don't understand the hype surrounding material design. I get the widgets as "material" metaphor, space, motion, etc., but as I understand it the redef

I really don't understand the hype surrounding material design. I get the widgets as "material" metaphor, space, motion, etc., but as I understand it the redefinition of every widget's appearance and ignoring UI conventions is the opposite of good design. The new design language (Material Design) is not made with any apparent metaphors in mind (e.g. the "tabs" are just plain nonsensical as elements), do not convey the system status or their use in any intuitive way, and is inconsistent with the widget look users are already accustomed to (as defined by their systems and by history). As others have mentioned, it's hard to see any real value in this outside of Google's own systems.