Steam activation can be a pain in some regions. But it's still better than the EA's DRM. Why the hell they don't offer phone or e-mail activation for people who have a restricted access to internet. Only in US are still quite a few people using cable modems that don't have the bandwidth for all the DRM throws at us. Add here some parts in Europe that still don't have the right infrastructure. At least Two Worlds and Football Manager 09 offered phone activation....
The only people suffering are the people who actually pay for the game
There are a few games that I would buy, but I'd rather wait the budget editions, with the hope they will remove the protection.
Off-topic: anyone knows, if there will be a Warhammer 40k: DOW2 - retail edition? So far, the game seems to be pdistributed only through Steam....