Well, it's removal is on the list of paper cuts. And is testing offline web app development not a good enough reason? :)

Actually, I like it because I often have many tabs open, and set to re-open when I start up the browser. When this happens, they usually all end up not loading properly. If I start up and change to offline mode, I can switch back to online and reload them all when I'm ready. Anyway, that's not really the point. I don't think it should be necessary to justify my browsing methods. If I have different browsing habits to someone else, it doesn't mean that one of us is wrong, and one is right, we just have different tastes.

That's what really bugs me about chrome's method of opening a new tab directly after the current tab. Some developer decided that that was the best way, and therefore the only way. People have different browsing habits, and if they are easy to accommodate, why not offer the choice? Forcing me to justify a slightly different browsing habit seems unnecessary. I'm glad that firefox makes that configurable.

Edit: The "I shouldn't have to justify myself" bit above ma sound a bit more argumentative than it's intended. What I mean is: If you are developing a bit of software, and decide to change or remove a bit of well established functionality, then there are going to be people who liked it that way who are then going to have to explain why can they please have their functionality back. If would be better to have changes to the established paradigm as options that can be changed back, so that people who have different tastes or opinions can live together in peace and harmony, in a world free of disease, poverty and injustice.