Probably not until Raw_Bean locks it, as usual.
I don’t know why people feel the need to incessantly ridicule any dissenting opinions of steam. Sure, sometimes a ridiculous view deserves to not be taken seriously, but this is a case where even if the OP is trolling, the view itself is still valid enough to be taken seriously for the sake of those few who still actually think this way.
Just a few ridiculous responses would demonstrate that the OP’s view was simply not worth being taken seriously, but the constant derailment makes it feel like people are scared of actually addressing the issue. This shouldn’t be the case, as all points can be fairly easily addressed, so I’m going to chalk this up to the “Hur hur… I can derail a thread without getting banned, which shows how popular and funny I am… on the internet. This is a strange and new experience for me and probably won’t last, so I must do as much as I can with it while it still does” syndrome.
Rather than contribute to the derailment, I’ll actually go into some detail on the issue. Most DRM is like being hobbled, tethered and gagged, but steam is more akin to being on those super long retractable leashes; you can still go and do just about everything you could do when roaming free provided you pay attention to the leash so it doesn’t get tangled up. There are some disadvantages, some compromises, but there are also advantages to using the Steam service too.
Disadvantages: - No resale
Lets face it, it’s 2009, all games are trying to keep you from being able to resell them, often whether you own the physical copy or not. The only games I have that I could feasibly resell would be Baldur’s Gate, Psychonauts, Thief, and Tomb Raider, but as long as they work I won’t be getting rid of them. Since Steam provides updates so your games always work, and makes it so you don’t need a physical copy, there’s no reason to sell your game anyway.
It would be nice if steam would allow you to just outright transfer your games from one account directly to another. The gifting system that is in place only lets you transfer specific games from a package. I got seriously gypped when I bought the Orange Box after having bought Portal individually.
Compromises - Need internet connection
It’s true that you need an internet connection, but only initially. in the case of Steam itself, once you have it installed, you can have it run in offline mode. This will allow you to play without an internet connection, but will also not update your games and will stop you from earning achievements for games like Half Life 2:E2 and Portal. As for the individual games, the initial installation of a downloaded game requires the net connection, but after that, steam will let you create an installation file for ANY of the games you have on steam which can be burned to disc. I’ve done this for Half Life 1, Opposing Force, Blueshift, and HL2: Lost Coast. Since they’re the only games that I don’t have a physical copy of. Also, while the initial download may be slow, steam is usually pretty good about being able to resume a download from whatever point you broke off at, so you can start your download one place and finish it somewhere else.
Advantages -
Discs never go bad - I don’t need to worry about the discs breaking, scratching, or lost, since all my games are tied to a username and password that I can easily remember, and I only need to use them for the initial installation, if even at all.
Play from any PC - I have an account separate from mine that is actually used by about 3 other family members, they all run in offline mode unless one of them wants to play a multiplayer game with me.
Steam > LIVE - Essentially, you’re getting, for free, the achievements and community interaction that Xbox owners are willing to shell out $50 a year to get.
Games never go obsolete - With steam comes steam updates for games, which mean that even a 10 year old game like Half Life still plays perfectly.
DEALS! - Holy crap, I got Half Life for $1 through steam for it’s 10th anniversary, I later got Blue Shift and Opposing Force, also $1 each, on a Christmas special. I then got Orange Box for $10 on the last weekend of April (I forget what the reason for that was) Lately they had a special where you could play Left4Dead for free for a weekend which got extended an extra day, while offering the game itself for half off. Steam doesn’t just bring the prices down on the crappy stuff, they give deals on the good ones too.
So in the end, Steam only has the one slight issue holding it back from being perfect, but it makes up for it by having other numerous advantages that you wouldn’t get if you were running from WON installation alone. As long as your whole goal isn’t to buy the game, play it, and then keep it while you sell the discs, there’s not really any problem at all. If you absolutely MUST be able to sell your games after you play them, you could always create a new account with just those games you purchased and then sell the entire account.