I'm really sick of the "durhur Steam is DRM nur nur nur!" crowd. Name one DRM that's in use that allows you to move your games from one PC to another without any activation penalties? There are only two, Steam and Impulse. And GOG.com doesn't use DRM so don't hand me any of that bullshit either.

I can authorize two of my machines to play my Steam games from two different machines, which means I can take my games with me on my Laptop and login to my Steam account and start playing them without having to worry about running out of shitty activations a-la EA's Spore.

Impulse is much the same, I can install Impulse on my laptop and download my games, already activated of course and I can just start playing them without having to worry about activation limits. Please get of the “DUrrrrrRRr Stream = DRM LULZ!!!1111oneoneherpderponeexlamationpoint” wagon. You look imbecilic.
1. It’s easier to buy online and download than to fiddle-fuck with a DVD and manual. Some people are sick-to-death of putting in a DVD loading the installer and then being asked for a DVD Key from the back of the manual that’ll probably get lost. DVD will probably get lost as well.
2. Typical manuals that come with boxed games are shitty and only maybe 5 pages long. You’re lucky if you buy a CRPG and it has a decent manual. Therefore why bother with a physical copy?
3. Easier to find multiplayer games with a friends list instead of pissing around the old-fashioned way on forums begging for a multiplayer game.
4. Steam may be a form of DRM but it sure is a hell of a lot less restrictive than most. You can take your games with you from machine-to-machine without reactivation limits.
5. It’s definitely a lot better than Games for Windows Live.
6. More and more developers are switching to SteamWorks to distribute their games digitally to avoid a shelf cost which means games go on sale more frequently because they don’t have to worry about losing most of their profit to a brick-and-mortar shop.
All of the above can be repeated for Impulse.

tl;dr Version: Steam is far more convenient than hunting up lost game disk and manuals. Downloading your games online is here to stay; Deal with it.

Feh, lifes a shit right now, not a lot of excitement, unless you count Spring Break...I don't.