As opposed to tabs that either (a) get so small they're illegible, or (b) scroll off the screen so they're no longer accessible?

The moving tabs issue we can fix but just not moving them.

And the vertical space issue is much less of an issue now than it was then because we have higher resolutions but the answer to that is to start closing tabs when you can no longer see your content. It's like a quiet little nag that says you have too much stuff open.

The selected tab has to be on the bottom row for the visual metaphor to work, that's why they move.