Me too. But I write 10 short emails for every long email. Why? Because writing short emails is faster so I get more of them done!
I think Google is definitely on the right track here. I love to be able to compose emails while still clicking around for context in the background. I am perfectly fine shift-clicking to open a new compose window because that is the exception not the common case. Similarly, I don't often change the subject or use formatting in emails, so I don't mind clicking an extra icon to open up those options.
This whole movement about how unequivocally Terrible the new Gmail UI is is the biggest tsunami of nerdrage I've seen in quite some time. But here's the thing: there is a reason and justification for it, and it does work for some people, and there's no going back; so it's time to either adapt or move to some other client with a traditional UI.
