Remember, when Steam was still in it's infancy, it was also HORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRIBLE. It took many years to be the stable and dependant platform it is today. Even though I myself do not like Origin, especially the technical bits in the EULA of them having access to my HDD contents, I am sure it will also be a respectable, stable and decent platform in the near future.
Now where is my free game Origin, see how nice I was?
While I know many people are hating on steam my question is; didn't steam, the current darling of digital distribution, have a checkered start also? I remember the first few times I used it, back when it was first release, finding it the most unstable, temperamental and just plain annoying thing ever. With time valve tweaked and improved and gained more games and now it is what it is. So should we not give Origin the same benefit of finding its feet?