Yes, that's the point. The two are equivalent. When a web site gives you two or more options for how to proceed, you can do them all in different tabs, then close all the tabs you aren't interested in -- without fearing that you've lost the "magic" one with the history going back before the choices page.

Galeon always worked like this (and I'm tempted to say that Fresco did too, but can't really remember); Firefox 3 needed an add-on.

Peter