Either way, I'd say Steam is DRM done right (or about as well as it can be) - it's unobtrusive and actually opens up the possibility of porting a game to any computer I log into with my Steam account.
If you were a geek in the days of games on floppies with copy-protection, you'd understand just how annoying DRM can be. Especially when some bone-headed copy protection scheme knocked your $250 floppy drive out of alignment
Haha no experience of floppy drive de-alignment myself
as for DRM: i can definitely see why people like Steam. It libraries your games, online is through Steam, not scattered via different services like battlenet, gamespy and so on, and for anyone with a decent connection it would seem spot on.
But for those of us that cant seem to get stable connection (im on the edge of my wifi range, constantly disconnects) and for when it crashes, i cant play unless I log back on. I ask, why do I have to log back on in order to play this game? I authorised the key through Steam. Do you not trust me anymore? Do you think in the period between playing the game (through Steam) and it crashing, I have downloaded a new pirated version? why cant i just play it?
Of course this is definitely not a widely based issue, its rather personal to me, but it really gets on my nerve.
The best DRM is no DRM. Its obvious you cant stop it. I think developers need to inject a little bit of trust into the consumers. Don't force us to use an application like Steam; it should be out of choice. Its not fair that pirates can get past it and we can't.