: Though it was worrying that they talked about "openness" Why the
: scare quotes?

Because it's clear that "open" for them means very different things.

The trend over the last decade has been to Apple's way of doing things--a fenced sandbox. Personally, I like Apple's products, so I don't mind the cage (as for power users it's easy to escape or ignore.) I also accept it from consoles to a degree because that's always been their use.

Now, however, consoles are increasingly becoming more multi-purpose, and I think their restrictions are being eroded. Yet Steam seems to be trying to push PC gamers to become more like consoles, and I think that kills any appeal of it to me. If you're a Linux or even a Mac gamer, I think you can appreciate Steam's role in bringing previously Windows-exclusive games to a broader market, but Steam's onerous gatekeeper approach and incessant updates, combined with sluggish, unresponsive desktop client, make me hate it. I can't imagine a box dedicated to just their games could justify its use for me.

Short version of my thoughts: it's a lot easier and a lot more advantageous for consoles to become more PC-like. The reverse is stupid for the majority of customers, I wager, and I will certainly not be supporting it.