The only issue I have with the article is the author doesn't provide research on alternatives. He sort of creates this narrative of how far reaching, intrusive, and evil Valve is without providing the reader with "another way." You can say Value (and to some extent Origins) is evil, but I think its beneficial to show where on the internet you can go to clear your conscience so to speak. Beyond that the article is pretty spot on about everything. Valve is definitely in this for exploitative amounts of profit.
What do you recommend? Humble Store and GOG.com? Or physical resealable disks?
Gotcha. I agree with johnnyFive on this one. Steam isn't perfect, maybe not even moral, but they did bring a lot to PC gaming. I doubt those better options would exist without Steam.