It's a welcomed change for me. There have been some missteps that needed training, but now it's smooth sailing. I just wish my phone didn't still chirp regardless of tab, but that's what I get for using a standard mail client I guess.
I just wish my phone didn't still chirp regardless of tab
What client/platform?
Using the gmail client on Android, for me the experience has been that email to the alternate tabs don't count for notifications -- neither sound nor notification icon. It HUGELY reduced the amount of notification noise I was getting, and just for that is a huge improvement. Now when there is a notification it is almost always legitimate.