[adrusi]

I really appreciate apps that open new windows where it makes sense, but I'm pretty sure the reason it died out is because people started using too many windows for conventional floating window managers to handle. I'm not sure if many people really felt the burden it would have caused, because the growth in number of windows arguably began with having many webpages open at once, and firefox, and then later internet explorer with version 7 (or maybe 6?), introduced tabs as a core part of using a web browser.

When I'm using a tiling window manager that supports tab-style layouts (i3, sway, gnome+popOS) applications that open new windows liberally are great because the alternative is to have an ad hoc bespoke window manager inside every application, and it's much better to have a single consistent window management experience at the OS level with one set of keybondings and predictable behavior.

But if I had to have a floating window for every webpage I have open, I'd never find anything!

[hulitu]

Not everybody works in a browser. I usually have an Edge, a Teams , an Outlook, a Total Commander and an Excel window always open. Then the working windows depending on the task: doors, CAD tools, etc.

Window management is a solved issue: just give me a fvwm window manager and i'm happy.

But of course, on Windows (see above) no fvwm and Gnome must reinvent the wheel every other year.

[JohnFen]

> But if I had to have a floating window for every webpage I have open, I'd never find anything!

That's how I do it (and prefer it!)

I am very allergic to tiling windows and somewhat allergic to tabs. I want everything to be a free-floating window so I can organize things as I wish.

[Fatnino]

It was definitely ie7 and not ie6 that had the tabs.

[krylon]

It was the first thing they added to IE after years of letting it rot to put something out against the rising popularity of Firefox.