It used to be I could run some Steam related software offline, as in no internet connection. I seem to have lost that ability. I do not remember when the change was made but it makes me leery about buying ANYTHING through Steam and there are some games I want that are connected to them.

If I buy a BOXED copy of a game I expect it to work without any other need other than the machine I install it on. This crap about requiring an internet connection is ridiculous. I have the discs, I even have the key still. Yet it will not run because my connection is down or worse their server is? (and yes Steam has had authentication issues)