Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox on the Top-10 New Mistakes of Web Design is old (from 1999), but (sadly) still relevant - I've lost hope that sites like heise.de and golem.de will ever get this:

"Opening up new browser windows is like a vacuum cleaner sales person who starts a visit by emptying an ash tray on the customer's carpet. Don't pollute my screen with any more windows, thanks (particularly since current operating systems have miserable window management). If I want a new window, I will open it myself!

Designers open new browser windows on the theory that it keeps users on their site. But even disregarding the user-hostile message implied in taking over the user's machine, the strategy is self-defeating since it disables the Back button which is the normal way users return to previous sites."