So the copy is wishy-washy. Is it free straight away until 5/24 or will the free demo close and no longer be playable on 5/24?
ETA: Ninja’d
The wording on it is slightly ambiguous, but… probably.
The wording isn’t really ambiguous: it clearly says you get a free copy of Portal. Not a demo.
However, I did have to read it a couple times myself just because I was surprised they were offering it for free.
It wouldn’t say a demo even if it were temporarily limited. A demo is a version of the game that has a limited feature set. Steam has periods in which you can play a game with a full feature set, but then it dissapears at a certain date. It’s a much more complete experience than a demo. Because the wording isn’t totally clear, and they’ve had lots of “play the full game until X date” offers and not much in the way of free game forever offers, the wording wasn’t convincing enough to me that I’m absolutely positive that it’s free forever if you get it now. But probably.
Portal 2 is imminent (I think), I’m pretty sure that giving away the original is advertising for the new one.
I never get this problem with Steam. I got Portal yesterday (and its really cool, thanks!) in 30 minutes when it told me the estimated download time was 2 and a half hours. I was pretty impressed!
I finally got it to accept one!
That was a triumph… 
My brother has seen me play Portal on a couple of occasions and quite liked it; when I told him they were giving it away for free he was overjoyed. And after he installed Steam I finally got rid of my extra copies of HL2 and HL2: Ep1 (those came with the Orange Box aeons ago).
Yes, it’s free to keep. Quoth Burton Johnsey, Community Developer at Valve:
Further, if you download it for the PC, you will also later be able to download it for the Mac. “SteamPlay” means they let you have both versions - if you download one version, the other will also be in your account. Any game that has the “SteamPlay” icon means your license is cross-platform. From Valve’s support area:
This offer stands even if you’ve bought the games before the Mac version became available.
Valve = love.
I gotta say, when I first heard about Steam back when Half Life 2 was imminent, like many people I thought it was gonna be an unforgivable pain in the nuts. I’m happy to be wrong.
man i tried this game last year and hated it
So is Half-Life and Half-Life 2 slated to come out in Mac versions?
Can’t wait to see how Portal 2 turns out. The original was the best game I’ve played in the last few years.
Portal was LURVE.
LURVE.
I can’t wait for portal 2, although I’m finding it hard to see how it could possibly top Portal.
People said that about Half Life, but they managed to top that with Half Life 2. I’ve heard good things about Team Fortress 2 compared to the original, though I haven’t played it myself. I also thought Episode Two was stronger aside from the short length than the original Half Life 2, so Valve has a good track record in topping great games
Yes, but in Portal, you didn’t know what was going to happen next. And the reveal on room 18 was PHENOMINAL!
I really really don’t see how they can top that with Portal 2.
I actually disagree with this, and am very skeptical Portal 2 will prove to be an exception.
I don’t think they will top Portal, because Portal is so awesome already. In particular, it will be very difficult (if they even try) to compete with the enjoyment the learning experience (both gameplay and story) provided in the original. In any case, it is better to keep expectations somewhat low so that you can be happily surprised.
Also, I’ll second Half Life > Half Life 2.
Thanks to this I have been introduced to Portal. It is a great concept.
I’m in lab 15 or 16, how many are there?
19 labs. But … the game does not end there.(mild spoiler)
Can someone tell me how big the download is? Is there any chance of being able to download this on dial-up?