I agree with what he said. If you don't like Steam, than don't use it!
You are not being forced to play HL+mods, and what do you expect...HL is over 5 years old, I cannot think of any other mainstream games that have recieved the support Valve has put into this one title. It is their product, if they want to change how things are handled they have the right to do that.
If this is the response we can expect from a lot of gamers when future titles try to improve over time than be prepared for a lot of dissapointment...or is the majority of the public still upset because they feel lied to about the HL2 release last year...lol