@leocg I'm honestly baffled at the way you've been responding to everyone in this thread. Not only are you coming across quite condescending, you're also making statements/arguments that are logically incoherent. You believe nobody needs more than 3 recently closed tabs? Ummmm, ~300 comments here complaining about this would seem to prove you categorically wrong. Who are you to tell people what they do/don't need??
You're also arguing that this useless new feature they've replaced the tab menu with is actually better - but you haven't given a single reason why it's better, or even when it will ever be used by any normal person who doesn't keep hundreds of tabs open at all times. Personally I can't have more than 25-30 tabs open simultaneously or Opera starts freezing & becoming unresponsive - even after upgrading to brand new laptop with 8 core CPU, so it's not my hardware. I have to prune my open tabs, and I used the feature constantly, every single day - but you're decreeing that I don't actually need more than 3 because you said so?!? GTFOH.
Then I see you arguing that the tab menu never should have been introduced in the first place, and doesn't belong in Opera. Wut? Like, everyone's entitled to their opinion, but you're commenting on a massive thread inundated with p***sed off users angry their favourite feature has been removed irretrievably, essentially telling a plethora of users that they're all wrong and have no reason to complain, and that this Useless new feature is better, despite not being able to provide a single reason why it's better, other than the rare user with hundreds of tabs always open who can't remember what tabs they have open where. Aside from the fact that this is beyond question a tiny minority of users, the simple fact is that if you have to open a search dialogue box and type in a search term/phrase to find what you're looking for, you've pretty much defeated the purpose of having the tab open to begin with. If you have to type in a search, you may as well just open a new tab and type in what you're looking for.
It's honestly hard to find words adequate to describe how utterly and bafflingly stupid this change is. Opera has been my default browser ever since I began using a PC on a daily basis, and I'm now thinking it's time to start test-driving alternatives. You can have your opinion (as boneheaded and absurd as it may be) but why are you seemingly incapable of even acknowledging that other people have legitimate grounds to complain about this moronic change? Even if you have a different (preposterous) opinion, the constant denial that anyone else's opinion is valid is just adding fuel to the fire. Even if you don't work for Opera, being a moderator one would think you should be aiming to prevent people getting heated, not actively inciting it. WTF man?