I love it when people complain about sales and the like :p
That being said, they did have some great sales earlier. SR2 for 2 dollars would have been an instant-buy if I hadn't already grabbed it when Impulse got the expansion.

I have bought Jets'n'Guns in promo for 2$ the day before yesterday, played it to midnight yesterday and was late to work today because I overslept.
Damn promos.
And comparing Impulse Now to Steam? Steam is DRM enwrapped with pretty stuff. Impulse now is just a smaller version of Impulse client - I use it for launching games (because I don't like my wallpaper covered with icons) and for promo actions and for opening Impulse. For rest of the day it's just a tiny tray icon with bolt I even don't know about.

I'm trying to get people play J'n'G for ages, and all it took was a one little sale! Finally! :D

It's hard, challenging, but funny. I have reached USS Impotence (it's a space cruiser!) today and started little zombie genocide in following missions.

Very good business strategy.
For me though, the difference is that with Steam, I look FORWARD to deals updates, because it's not intrusive, whereas Impulse is CUTTING OFF the deal to me unless I agree to be advertised to. Impulse should just use a popup when the client loads, and have the deals on the website....it just makes sense.

Yeah, let's put all the regional advertisements on the website. Nobody will ever complain about that.
Wait a moment, everyone screams and freaks out the moment there is a regional deal.
I know, let's put the ads when the client starts up!
Wait a moment, everyone will scream about how much they hate that Steam takes "nine hours" to load because you have to click through two ads.
I know, let's advertise the ads to those who want to be advertised to, and let everyone else find the coupon codes elsewhere.
Wait a moment. That is what they are doing...

The probelm wtih your sarcasm-laden suggestion is that to "let everyone else find the coupon code elsewhere" is discriminatory, and an insult to Impulse customers.

How? Everybody was okay with finding the SURVEY-2009 code everywhere (even those of us who didn't bother to write it down after the survey). Same basic principle.
And you might as well say that using the client at all (your own suggestion of pop-ups) is "discrimantory" too. It is an insult to Impulse customers who don't want to use Impulse.
How DARE we make people use a program to see ads!

I was not aware that optional, "hidden" sales were sins of retail. For decades, retailers (especially boutiques) have held private or unadvertised sales in order to reward loyal clients. If you run Impulse Now, you get exclusive deals. You are offended because you don't want to fulfill the conditions to participate in the sale?
Do newsletter coupon codes offend you as well? Many websites offer special deals to those who subscribe to their newsletters. Aren't these messages intrusive, irritating spam?
Let me pose this question:
Would you rather have a widely-advertised sale for 50% off, or a "secret" sale for 80% off the same merchandise? Those who seek out deals should be rewarded, no?

Well, judging from the reactions in this thread, it's mostly an insult to you. No one else seems to be that bothered by it. I read that as an indication that the problem is mostly you, not Impulse Now. *You* can read that as an indication that the average person is a fool who doesn't realise when he is the victim of terrible, terrible injustice. No one will really mind, it's ok.

Yeah, I don't really see the big deal here. I agree that sometimes Stardock needs to nail something down before they move on to the next idea, but how exactly does this detrimentally affects anyone? If you don't want to opt in, don't opt in. Nobody is entitled to bargains. If you want them, they're there.

Despite my usual rabble-rouser tendencies I find myself agreeing with these sentiments. So a company is subsidizing certain deals by using them to promote a part of their distribution platform which is easily disabled. Not really seeing much of an issue there. Seriously folks, there are plenty of reasonable things to complain about. This isn't one of them.
Disclaimer: Very, very drunk right now.

Impulse Now isn't working for me...still stuck on the Gal Civ 2 offer. Bought Demigod for £4ish but had to find out about it on here.

Perhaps, but the lovely thing shared by capitalism and truth is that it only takes one person to make a difference.

I was invited to use the survey, and so was everyone else who ASKED to recieve emails which THEY could check at THIER leisure.
Imp. Now does not reward repeated patronage, it rewards the forced use of adware.