Am I the only one with this problem? I have used Firefox from the get go (and Netscape Navigator before that) but this update is useless - literally I can not browse with it.

Do you mean links in a Google results page in a Firefox tab, or the Google search widget you can access from the Android home screen or home button?

I would expect links in a Google results page in a Firefox tab to open in the same tab, unless you long press them and choose to open them in a new tab. Does "same tab" work, and the problem is with "new tab"?

For links from other apps, Firefox has an option to queue tabs for later viewing. This is convenient because then Firefox doesn't open immediately, taking you away from your other app. But perhaps the queue feature isn't working. If you have that enabled, try disabling it to see whether that makes a difference:

Firefox menu button > Settings > General > Tab queue (off)