Well I have 2 Origin accounts and have not used it since I finished Mass Effect 3 and do not intend to use it again for a long time!
On my main account which was the BF3, I have a list of about 20 friends - I only ever see 1 of my friends using it when I do go on. I have the identical friends list on Steam and 50% of them are on there at anytime.
I will echo other people comments in that Origin is not terrible, but is only 'good enough' and is frankly destroyed by Steam. Until they can hit critical mass with people actually online and using it regularly, then I feel it will never gain traction.
I agree with this post, afaik none of my Steam games can be played without steam, most of my origin games work without origin being open... I also believe that Steam forces you to keep it open while you game, while Origin is far less intrusive.
I quite laugh at steam, its becoming like Apple, fanboys defend it to death like its the best thing since sliced bread, when its a store + downloader, nothing more, nor done well, but somehow inspires rabid loyalty and people to spend loads on the steam sales, regardless that huge numbers of people buy huge numbers of games just because they're cheap.... but they'll never play most of them.
I don't hate Steam, I have had bugs with it over the years, I'm sure I will eventually with Origin, neither is better or worse. Origin sales(well EA sales) in the past 5 years have meant getting Crysis 2 for 50% off as a pre-order, and multiple other unreleased AAA titles for well below RRP as pre-orders, and several games for £3-5 that were still £15+ in stores and on Steam. I've never once got a good price on a game on Steam that within maybe 6 months of that game being released, and how long has it been around now?
I knew which way Steam was going with the rabid outcry of support over the Orange box, make it great "value" to buy was it Episode 1 or 2, while paying AGAIN for Half life 2, ep 1 and, etc. Yeah, great value, don't offer me Portal, TF2 and Ep 2 for a lower price, make the only viable option paying more and rebuying games they already know most people had.... but because it was such a "great deal" if you didn't have those games, everyone loved them for it, despite Valve and all these people knowing the majority of people who wanted to play Ep 2, already had the rest.
They've continued to release ever worse games, ever further apart, while failing to deliver the real game people wanted that they make promise after promise over, while offering an often times buggy, ever more intrusive download manager, with crap prices.
But they are doing well, its not about ripping off your customers, its about ripping off your customers while convincing enough people to be rabid fanboys to be successful from their die hard business of buying crap they won't actually use, but believing they are getting a good deal.
. I only signed up to redeem the free Battlefield 3 code I got with my 6950 and haven't used it for anything else. Can't even remember the last time I played the game.