As much as I'd like to flame Spirit for being a dick just for the sake of it and linux ideology-fuelled misanthropy as so often, I can't deny he has a point. As convenient as Steam is (despite the pricing and regional availability controversies), taking away a layer of dependence, at the same time it adds another one which, in the end, may have a greater impact than the loss of a cd. We are indeed licensing games more than actually buying them there (though one could probably argue that the TOS of many physical games - you know, the text before the installer that you never read - may have some equally questionable implications.

Now, the Steam Guard system (account security) works well - the mails always arrive immediately for me - and it can be deactivated if desired. Offline mode works, too, although (and that's hell of an irony) it requires at least one online login so the account data/password is saved on the computer.

However, a couple of days something happened that should make us think. Due to a server configuation problem German users were unable to use Steam. They couldn't log in and, here's the thing, couldn't use the offline mode, either. The fact that such a thing is possible is really fucked up and plays directly into Spirit's argument. Technical problems can occur all the time, and so far Steam has always worked fine, but if an external issue can lock out people like this, it's quite outrageous. 

I found having to put the CD in the drive to play far more inconveniencing than having to be online has ever been so
Hmm - yes.

Anyway, i'm still not sure about how well this thing will work. Linux is a tough OS to write proprietry code for.

Or if and when it'll ever get done ? I suppose there must be some truth in this comment (from Phauronix's discussion page)

If they get bored or feel it is not right, they stop doing it, and Gabe just does not care. He does not control his employees for what they are working on. Projects can be stalled for years if no one interests in working on, while others are being done very fast if a lot of people work on; there are no plans nor guides. 

right, that's more what i was getting at. just because the system offers great stuff, that doesn't somehow nullify or cancel out the fact that it is taking control away from you.
the fact that it is easy and cheap is what makes it worse: you go ahead and use it and it's great and you barely notice the inconvenience. you only realize how much it actually sucks when something like the above happens. 

http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/linux/steamd-penguins/

(and can we not talk about DRM this time?) 

I am a bit scared about (probably successful) platforms for easy commercial distribution on Linux. It could mean that developers would move away from free to paid just to try to make a measly 100 bucks. I like Linux as it is. I do not really _need_ some software/game store since the free stuff works well enough and is entertaining though. I most certainly would not want one with profiles, DRM and "proprietarity".

Probably contradicting myself here.

Could someone gift me Quake? 

abused :-S
Think of Android, or Chrome OS or whatever.

Or watch this http://youtu.be/yVpbFMhOAwE
Since when does Linux need commercials? 

Why Ubuntu? There are a couple of reasons for that. First, we�re just starting development and working with a single distribution is critical when you are experimenting, as we are. It reduces the variability of the testing space and makes early iteration easier and faster. Secondly, Ubuntu is a popular distribution and has recognition with the general gaming and developer communities. This doesn�t mean that Ubuntu will be the only distribution we support. Based on the success of our efforts around Ubuntu, we will look at supporting other distributions in the future.
cough 

Seems LordHavoc, Rick Johnson (Raven) and Sam Lantinga (SDL) are working for Valve now.

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=valve_linux_sdl&num=1