I decided to help the local merchant out (he's a good guy) and pre-ordered BF3 from him.
Steam is handy, I like it, especially a lot of the awesome sales. It does need more work as others have pointed out. I find myself at times wondering what would happen if they were to go under or if they will ever start charging a monthly fee for their "service".
Mods that try to alter the exe (such as the script extenders for Oblivion/Fallout)
I've had no problem with NVSE; haven't tried FO3 on steam yet, I originally bought the CE. I did eventually buy FO3 goty on steam for the DLC that came with it though; the price was too cheap to pass up.