What makes this seem more consumer-friendly than Steamworks? The ONLY potential advantage I see is being able to log-in with other accounts. And honestly, that is just because Stardock knows they are boned (and want to "infect' other social networks/services).
Seriously, we know you don't like Steam. But there is really no real difference, at least from the article you linked to. And, if anything, Steam still offers better matchmaking/server browsers and a fully-functional web browser for their overlay. Plus, we don't know if Reactor will let you chat with people.
So yeah, this would probably make a good GfWL contender (like we don't have enough of those), but I am not really seeing any benefit to this over Steam. And it sure as heck isn't more "consumer-friendly" :p

It is client-free and vendor-neutral. Any solution that offers more freedom to the consumer is worth praise.

I can't shake the feeling that I'm the only person alive who actually LIKES GFWL

Who really knows if it is more consumer friendly or not ... for whatever reason their explanations of their products always confuse me (probably my fault).

The Facebook/OpenID/Live login options offer convenience to certain users, and are not mandatory. Thousands of websites offer such login services.

No you are not alone I don't mind it at all. I think the issue with GFWL is server side. Some people like me never once have a problem while others seem to have an experience not unlike pulling teeth.

Again, imagine for a moment that it was MS offering this. Or Valve :p
And on the topic of "GFWL isn't that bad": I don't mind it in general, but I find that the GFWL-itself is laggy as hell. No problems unless I hit the home-key and try to use it, at which point it is a horrible overlay.

Okay, and? Thousands of services, from blogs to social portals, do the "Log in with your Facebook account" garbage now. Valve, Microsoft, Enron, and the old woman down the street that you really hate could offer that feature on their sites as well, and I wouldn't care. I don't use it. Some people do. For those who use it, it's a nice feature.

So...reading Impulse::Reactor's White Paper, I spotted this:
Is...is the third option similar to Ubisoft's DRM? Sure, it's optional, but wow... O_o

I'd be okay with it if it weren't for all the games with limited activations. :(

I am annoyed by the save limitations. I assume that they exist to prevent Gamerscore cheating, since users would be able to share save files and easily grab achievements. It is sad that Microsoft values the integrity of the Gamerscore over the quality of the experience for PC users.

I like it too. Far more than SteamWorks in fact. Although Microsoft make it very hard to like here considering they really don't want to support it in Japan at all. Still, asides from not being able to buy anything on it (even though they actually specifically sell GFWL points here I found the other day), it's never given me any significant problems.
As for this new Reactor thing? To be honest I don't see what the big deal will be, it's not like Impulse enjoy selling games outside NA anyhow, so how's it going to do anything for any region in which supported games are not sold?

So as a gamer whose primary interest is single-player, offline games, what does this offer me? Unless this is only for multiplayer titles (in which case I couldn't care less about it) or is integrated into games with an easy "Get the fuck out of my face and never bother me again" option, I really only see this as something that will drastically reduce what I'm willing to pay for games that implement it (just like Steamworks and GFWL currently do).

I think that a compelling feature (based on Brad's comments in the video) is the flexibility of I::R. Developers may be able to pick certain features, and skin them as desired, depending on the needs of a title. Most of the features of I::R that have been demonstrated thus far are for multiplayer titles, so it makes sense to have social content and various matchmaking capabilities. Offline, singleplayer titles may not need the same features, and developers may have the freedom to disable them.
The pitch for I::R thus far has targeted developers. The ease of execution and ability to customize I::R are relatively unique selling points.