- DRM done right and not invasive
No such thing.
- Fast download of new release games
Irrelevant. Not specific to Valve. Plenty of other pro-consumer vendors have it.
- Ability to install your games as many times as you like?
Irrelevant without DRM.
- Super cheap specials and multi-packs
Irrelevant. Not specific to Valve. Plenty of other pro-consumer vendors have it.
- Offline modes
Irrelevant without DRM.
- Simple game install and patch deployment
Possibly. I prefer standalone patch downloads that I can opt out of or run the version I choose, if I want to run an old version.
But it's otherwise all downside: Valve's a gigantic gaping back door to social acceptance of DRM. They are the ones who began the erosion of consumer rights in the video game sector. They are the ones who implanted in the popular mind that it's okay to require a game to have an online connection before you can play it. Even the pros you mention above are all Trojan horses at best to convince you to accept their DRM practices in the name of "sales!".
Consider that the Chromebook is about twice the price of my company's average machine... Including software costs. No.
Not to mention, our people [collectively] *use* all those features in Office that everyone claims "no one uses".
Can someone explain how these are grouped at all? I don't see any pattern at all. QSXGA is what I'd like to use but it pretty much doesn't exist. (Death to wide screen. Give me 1:1 even!)
He who has but four and spends five has no need for a wallet.