No, I cannot name a service that spoon-feeds better than Steam does, that does not mean there is no "better" alternative.
It's giving people what they want. PC gaming doesn't have to be difficult to be rewarding and enjoyable. You can get all pissy while making snide comments like "spoon feed" but those people don't care, hell most of them probably don't even read sites like this.
You claimed there was a better alternative but the reality is that there isn't one which is why you can't name it. Steam is the perfect storm of price, convenience and features. It won't be dethroned until a competitor can replicate that experience.
The industry is allowing platform lock-in to happen, Valve isn't forcing anyone kicking and screaming into this stuff, they don't have that kind of power over the publishing world. That suggests to me that the industry wants that kind of unification on the PC which means that with or without Valve/Steam, they are going to try to force it on people. The only way to combat that is an open competitor and none exists right now.
I'd love to support an alternative but at the same time, I'm also a gamer and I'm not going to stop my favorite hobby just because there isn't an open version of Steam.
So I do get your point and position but frankly there is plenty of blame to go around in this situation.