Steam doesn't sound too bad.

I am worried about stuff that jumps up from time to time to "call home"; I don't want a program to do anything unless I tell it to_apparently not an issue (Yay!) I am concerned about portability but that also sounds like it is not an issue.

On the thread derailment, I completely agree with Akka. My first exposure to a TW game came thanks to a person who never bought a game in her life; handed me a disc and a piece of paper and said, "I think you'll like this"; it was MTW (full version)_ I installed, played it for a cpl hours and bought the game the next day. People who game w/o paying will always find a way to do so; people who buy their games will do so whether they need to or not. The absolute numbers may change but I doubt the ratio differs much over time.