What I find weird about the design is the idea of "Getting the other tabs out of the way" idea. I don't care about the selected tab as I can see what page it it. When I go looking for another tab to go to they make it harder to read! The hell?
That's a very good point. I wonder if that design decision came from user studies, and if so I wonder if the study was flawed, because I can't identify with that need at all.