mjs0
The 4th X
I suspected as much, no problem...don't let them get to you.I agree to this. It was caused by others which have taken this section as "excuse" on behalf of Steam.

I think we are very close to at least understanding each other my friend...thanks for keeping this civil.
...but when I put Windows Live Messenger (a classic Joe Average social networking tool) in 'Offline' (hidden) mode it still goes out on the network and gets a list of your contacts that are online in case you still want to talk to them. This is clear in the interface as the available online contacts are highlighted and even Joe Average would realise this has to mean the application is talking to something out there.Well, in this regard I still cannot agree with you.
Most probably just because we have different technical understanding of network technologies and I will admit that in this area am very much the "Joe Average".
But "Joe Average" - about this I am pretty sure - does understand "offline" as "no connections will be established; even not just for checking what kind of service might be available".
I was nodding in partial agreement until you got to this point, unfortunately I think you are giving Joe Average too much credit here, in fact I would go as far as to say you may be projecting your own feelings and misgivings onto Joe Average...(I'm tempted to put this in bold)...Joe and Jane Average do not read any of the above documents...something looks interesting they buy it, they download it and install it, Joe and Jane Average think nothing of signing up at Facebook, twitter, LOLCats, etc etc they just install and run. They don't read the fine print. I can't imagine anything that would be able to communicate this to them in a reliable wayAnd, as Ori has put it into words above, this is what is my concern with Steam as far as this special topic is concerned.
A company shall be clear in their statements - meaning that "Joe Average" has to have a chance to understand what they are talking about.
If this means that an additional paragraph has to be included in the EULA, privacy policy or whatever, then it has to be done.
Of course this is the same demographic that goes gaga over iPhones and iPads, home of the most restrictive anti-consumer corporate policies you can imagine. That iPhone app you bought and love can be gone at Apple's slightest whim.Especially, when the customers on average are of an age of 20 or younger, as Steam states.
I still don't think this statement matters to more than a handful of potential customers, but you are right adding something similar to that to the fine print would be the best way to placate those who are perturbed by its absence.And one last thing: if Steam starts with Windows, yet has been set into the miraculous "offline mode", then all this accessing of sockets is not needed.
Yes, it looks like the Steam engine has a history of having been developed for online access. Therefore, it may be very difficult to drive around these things and - maybe, maybe not - not really worth the effort.
But again, then I would expect a paragraph somewhere which reads:
"Although due to technical restrictions the Steam software will access existing internet connections when started, no data will be transferred. Such access will be only an availability check and is performed only once during the start sequence."
No matter. As I said, it is highly appreciated.![]()