I hate the EA Download Manager (EADM).  You hate the EADM.  We all hate the EADM!  Hell, even EA hates their own Download Manager.  I suppose that’s why they are in the process of rolling out something…better – according to EA.com editor Jeff Green that is!  Check out this latest question from his Mailbag that speaks of what is in store:

Dear Jeff,
Why does The Sims 3 require me to install the EA Download Manager application in order to patch the game? Most (actually, all) games that I’ve installed can patch up quite happily without an extra application running in the background. I would like to update The Sims 3 but frankly I don’t trust anything that calls itself a “download manager”, and I don’t trust that it won’t opt me into marketing research. Why can’t the game update itself? Fondest regards,
–Sean

Well, I can assure you, Sean, that the EA Download Manager won’t opt you into market research. It will, however, collect all the personal data off your computer-including credit card information and jpegs-for us to mess around with. You should see the cool stuff I’ve bought off Amazon lately thanks to the dumbasses who installed our malware!  OH I’M JUST KIDDING, PEOPLE.  Frankly, I have to agree with you, in general, in that I don’t like having yet another installer on my machine.  And guess what? EA does, too, to some extent.  I’ve currently running a beta of…a different idea…that EA is planning to implement, and it’s going to go a long way towards addressing the stuff you’re talking about. Stay tuned.

So could this be an update to the EA Download Manager?  Perhaps a whole new service?  I hope so, because for one the DM is a clunky application, a pain to deal with for updates and just plain out sucks – especially considering that EA has a time limit in how long you are able to download your digital copies of games from them.  Here’s hoping they’re planning something similiar to Steam – or even better, use Valve’s software.  Who knows what lies ahead..hopefully that whatever it will be they will get it right for a change.