Yea this is completely unlike the EA I'm used to. And while all the games on the list always illicited a 'meh' with me, at least now I can actually try them to see if they deserve the meh.
...also Sims 3, because Sims 2 unexpanded I found to be a very relaxing experience. Hopefully 3 is the same way. I consider it $10 to charity with saving me the trouble of finding my sims 2 cd next time I have the urge in return. Win-win.
I can neuter origin well enough through registry or sandbox it if I decide it's being too intrusive for my tastes too, so I'm not too worried there.
EDIT: Actually looks like I won't need to. I'm still suspicious of it, but during install it's suprisingly doing everything I tell it too. Nothing in windows startup registry, like I expected it do do with background monitoring even when not running. Sure as hell a lot diffrent than I remember origin being like last time I tried it. It used to be evil.
Maybe that's EA's whole plan. Do this to get people to redownload origin now that it's not quite as bad as it used to be, and try to drum up some good faith at the same time. More likely though the one moral employee at EA got out of their cage and did this before they got caught and put back in.