Comment 13 for bug 481541

(In reply to comment #12)
> Another solution is to land this patch and remove the “select” options. I hate
> to say this, but I tend to like this option, as it will not result in a string
> change. Most users probably won’t miss the fact that tabs can load in the
> background (majority are coming from window based browsing where you can’t
> really load windows in the background) and right now the wording is confusing.
> Of course this will anger some users (please note: I too like the prefs), but
> this would be a perfect time for an extension to step up and fill the void.
> Remember, it will still be a settable pref in about:config and we can easily add
> it back after Firefox 1.0.

I disagree. I've used Firefox for a while, and I have liked that the middle
mouse button popped up links without focusing/selecting/switching to them since
day one. I never ever wanted to change that.

But some do. In fact, a lot do - including my brother. When I told him there
was an option to change it, he said "wow, that's great" and asked me where...
since then, he's stopped using Internet Explorer and actually started using
tabs. (before, he had still sometimes used IE, and never used tabs.)

To me, middle click is logically a "open this and keep doing stuff here" type
button. It makes sense to me that way, because it doesn't quite feel like an
action button.

One of the biggest things about Firefox is tabbed browsing, and saying that it
should not have this option just because most people don't come from using
tabbed browsing.... does not float the boat for me :P. Some countries aren't
democracies, does that mean America should do away with voting? Immigrants
won't notice the difference.

Yes, you're saying "keep the pref, just remove the option"... but I'm saying
that's not even enough. If you remove the option... you're essentially making
it so it's not a feature of Firefox. My grandma definitely doesn't know how to
use about:config, but she might like the tabs opening out-of-focus if she
learned to use the middle mouse button.

And I certainly hope you don't mean to remove the option and make the default
open in focus - then, this new feature that *caused* this bug would be in
vain... left clicking would be the same as middle clicking... what a waste of a
good button.

-[Unknown]