Any PC gamer knows Steam >>>>> GFWL.

There is ZERO benefits for chosing GFWL. Steam has way more achievements, way more games, unlimited downloads, etc...

How does it feel to know that you're forced to phone Microsoft support everytime you download a GFWL game 5 times?

I play pc-games. Am I not a pc gamer?

GFWL achievements add up to my XBL gamerscore which alone makes GFWL vastly superior to steam.

I haven't noticed anything like that(5x dl limit). Do you have some link for that?

That's some crazy talk... not 3 years ago Steam was a barren waste land with Valve games and some other bullshit... GFWL just this year became a stand alone service and not just a background service and just because something runs on GFWL doesn't mean it can't be sold through steam as you see with Fallout 3

With the sheer volume of features Steam has over GFWL (as mentioned through 10 pages in this thread), that's the one you think makes GFWL trumps everything else? Seriously? Is your gamerscore more important to you than actual features, usability and fun?

As for the download limit, if you google "GFWL download limit" you'll find a whole host of links and complaints, including on the official GFWL forums.

What features are better on steam than on GFWL? I don't think I can find one that is actually better. Steam has more games, which I am not going to buy unless they are on sale.

GFWL also has a shared friend list with my xbl account.

Well I can believe that you find a lot of wrong with GFWL since you are too annoyed for this:

http://forums.gamesforwindows.com/t/9446.aspx

"Oh no, I can't install that game for more than 5 times a month and even on different computers!" That must be a huge problem for all the gamers.

10 pages of material to read, seriously? On Page 5 I already gave a host of reasons as well as many people already:

• Lack of an interface without starting up a game (No single startup program to chat, see what everyone else is playing, list all your games including non Steam/GFWL)
• locking saved games and forcing you to sign-in for access plus you can't save without logging in (not only does Steam not do this, but it also allows you access to saved games from other computers upon install)
• a poorly designed user interface for PC (looks like it was designed for low res)
• a range of connections issues rarely encountered with Steam
• bloated and buggy client with visible slow down and process heavy compared to Steam
• activation limits (on Steam there are none bar a minute number of third-party games; most of the games you list in the GFWL are also available on Steam and the majority didn't have any extra DRM)
• poor and unclarified DRM policies (see above)
• slow to update and patch
• region locking PC games
• less games on Live than available on Steam (you already mentioned this one)
• No user-mods for download (GFWL is a closed system, especially on PC)
• Poor PC-baed community: Yes you have your X-box-Live friends, but for PC based games I want to communicate strategies with PC players, and the community features on GFWL are pretty mediocre by comparison. It's not like many games are cross platform play.

-  Maybe true for you, but on PC I really don't need that option. Other might but I don't.

So, if you have multiple GFWL games and you're playing game X. One of your friends suggest you play game Y; you currently have to log out, close the game and then open a new game from windows, log in again on game Y and then play. How is that convenient? Or do you only have 1 game on PC?

- locking savegames is a good thing, people can't cheat with their GS so easily

Lol, not true at all. My brother cheated on Fallout 3 multiple times and it didn't effect his gamerscore at all. In fact, if I was to advise you to up your gamerscore, I'd suggest you buy a load of GFWL PC games and cheat away. It serves no purpose but forcing you to log in. If you play without logging in then you lose your progress... this is a good thing?

- poorly designed? And steam is so great? :D

Better than GFWL especially in terms of functionality. Can it be improved? Of course, but GFWL is just poor and looks like no-one put any effort into it. For instance, I want to invite someone, on GFWL I press Home and have to navigate to my friends list and invite them to play. On Steam, I Shift tab and my friends list is already up, along with all current conversations. 

- I've had a lot of issues with steam. The usual "cannot connect to steam network" happens very often. Haven't had any problems with XBL/GFWL.

Odd, I'm the opposite. Steam is my most reliable. Admitedly GFWL isn't the worst (EA's service takes that honour)

- So are you saying that there aren't games with securom/any drm on steam? I can't see how 5 times a month activation limit is a problem for anyone.

Never said that, just that it has less as Steam in itself is a form of DRM. The less DRM the better.

- Region locking games is a problem because of what? If I am on another region, I am on a vacation. I am not carrying my desktop with me or have any interest on spending my vacation on games.

People carry laptops. Welcome to 2010, lol. People do like to game when abroad, especially if visiting rather boring relatives... ahem.

- once again, mods mods mods. 99% of them are pure crap. Are those good mods available from steam?

You're missing out on a lot of great experiences with that view. Counterstrike started as a mod and is one of the most played online games ever and the guy that made the OOO mod for Oblivion is now working on Fallout: New Vegas. User mods can make a good game brilliant. Anyway, my point was that Steam supports user mods. There are some available and Valve do highlight some of the best offerings from time to time. GFWL doesn't.

- Do you use steam for communicating with other players anyway? I bet you don't. I use irc, ventrilo and some times messenger for that on pc. When I am working, I don't want to be disturbed by my friends. When I am playing, I can access the friends list.

Yes, usually to setup games and it's oddly become my most used IM service (sometimes use Skype to cideo chat). You'd rather log into alternative services, then log into GFWL to setup a game? Alternatively, if I see someone is playing CS:S or L4D I may just jump in. If I saw someone was playing another game on GFWL that I wanted to play too I'd have to logout, exit the game then startup a new game and re-login. I open Steam and see what everyone is playing and communicate to people in-game and just jump in.

And just out of curiosity, what are those community features on steam? I have noticed that there is a community tab but... there is pretty much nothing going on. I guess the only purpose of that is a make a boycott MW2-group or something as interesting as that.

Numerous groups, and each can set up mass events. Take the PC Gamer group I'm part of with its 33,000 players and I get numerous invites to play TF2, CS:S etc. The sheer number of clans that have been established for numerous years. The ease at which you can pick out people on a friends list rather than navigating through a long interface.

And since you seem to know a lot of about steam, where can I find all of my achievements?

Look at the game in your library; it'll tell you how many acheivements you've got. Or check the games list on your profile.

All in all, I prefer retail over any dd-service.

See italics for comments. I'll assume you conceded the point about updating and patching and GFWL being buggy and process heavy.