Purchased and recommended to some friends most of which are huge sci fiction enthusiasts 

http://store.steampowered.com/recommended/byafriend/201290/76561197992336774

This might be the first review on steam at least according to the Sins Steam page.

As long as Steam is not required to install, and is not required to play (only to update, especially for physical disc copies) then I think this is a most excellent way of getting extra revenue as well as maintaining IC/SD DRM policy. Excellent!

Well, neither of those things would be true if you buy the Steam version. But it's not a Steamworks game, so it's not going to require Steam in any form if you buy it elsewhere.

Well, If MinMax Games (makers of SPaZ) transferred (or technically "generated") new keys for Impulse owners of their game for Steam, why can't this be done for this situation? I agree with others here. Ever since Stardock ditched Impulse by selling out to GameStop, I've been purchasing more games on Steam. I really wish the Devs would reconsider.

There's also something with Humble Bundle...you're buying games outside of Steam, but you can also get redeem code to register with Steam too...all things considered, I don't think that it's impossible (though might be hard) for Ironclad/Stardock to have customers to get their old serial, and generate new one for registering with Steam...

And the question is: if there's new updates, will it apply to all outlets or not?

It is fine for you to say this, and maybe you have to.  However, I would guess that from here on out if you offer games on Steam and on Impulse, I would be willing to bet that you will see far more purchases coming in from Steam.

Personally I am extremely pleased that you are offering your games on Steam, as I will never buy another game from Impulse, now that it is owned by GameStop.  I agree with an earlier post that says you are getting a better package with Steam for two reasons:

1. I don't have to buy it from Impulse, which means I don't have to give any of my money to GameStop.  This is a personal preference, but if the forums are any indication, I'm not alone in this preference.
2. I have the game on Steam, which is where 90% of my PC game library now resides.

Granted, both of these reasons deal with the digital delivery, and not the actual game itself.  However, this actual DOES have an impact on my enjoyment of the game.  I despise the forced pop-ups that GameStop has placed in Impulse.  I love the fact that I can go to steam, and it is essentially a launch pad for every game that I play.

Anyhow, I will be re-purchasing Sins on Steam, if only to support the fact that you are no longer Impulse specific.  I will however no longer buy future Stardock games unless they are offered on a non-impulse service.  Amazon, Steam, Green Man, etc... Any of these are ultimately better than Impulse.

I love Steam and really very happy to see SoaSE on Steam BUT I have to say I do not think I will be as willing to return to playing the game seeing that I wont be able to obtain a copy of the game on Steam without repurchasing. I dont want to BELIEVE that Stardock is getting greedy and wants to expand its coffers by making existing customers buy again just for the sake of it but it may just be true. Now the go to argument that Ive been seeing is that "we arent forcing you to do anything" and this is wonderfully true and convenient but you fail to realize just how much of a change Steam is vs Impulse. I didnt play the game because of Impulse but I would play the game if it were Steam. There is a VAST difference between the platforms. With Steam we would be able to see how many people are online at a given moment and be able to go online hoping for a good multiplayer game with greater ease. 

Also with Steam we have greater convenience and inclusion. The only games I play outside of Steam are Blizzard games and thats because their system is extremely solid and inviting. Sure there are a few irritations who continue to complain about having to log in to anything and run a client vs just simply running the game by itself but that isnt the popular thought anymore. Steam sales have made it extremely cheap to game on PC and no other platform has been able to compare. Impulse sales were pathetic and embarrassing compared to those on Steam. Theres a reason why so many people would like to transfer their purchases to Steam - its just THAT much better. I truely feel like the community would gain a welcome boost from an allowed transfer to Steam. Please, PLEASE consider it. 

I don't really see how Steam is going to affect the game that much since Sins isn't a steamworks game. Correct me if I'm wrong but wouldn't the only difference outside of updating (and thus not needing Impulse to do that) be that you can launch the game from Steam. None of the multiplayer support or anything will be there as that's still all on ICO.

Further I don't think its fair to assume Stardock can freely give people keys to the Steam version. Even if they can just make a bunch of new keys, that still going to take a lot of support hours from Stardock staff to make the switch and it requires the cooperation of both Valve and (quite unlikely to be given) GameStop, and all of that time is certainly worth real money. It sounds like all Stardock did was sell x amount of game keys to Valve to distribute on Steam, just as you would sell x amount of physical copies to Walmart. To them its no different then allowing another brick and mortar store to sell their product. I know this is a flawed analogy, but in a sense this is equivalent to you buying a game at BestBuy, then later the same game becomes available at Walmart, at which you demand to swap stores because you like Walmart's return policy or something better.

Myself and I'm sure many others who bought SoaSE on Impulse would fight for the opportunity to use our existing SoaSE keys on Steam, with good reason.

Argue against it all you want, blocking us from using our existing keys this way is just going to hurt your bottom line, whether or not you like to admit it. Steam already has a system in place to support this, you're just being hard-headed about it.

You know the details of the agreement?  Do share.  I'd like to know how you know it's stardock doing the blocking.  It could be that Valve said they didn't want anyone using their service who didn't buy the game from them, and thus didn't give them a cut of the sale.

But you've given absolutely no proof of your accusations on how you know it's stardock's fault and not a term that Valve didn't want to agree to.  All you've given is the sentiment of indignation.

Then you don't really know more then a few of Stardock's customers because everyone that I know is pretty darn loyal, most of whom refuse to go to steam, and are waiting for SDC to be released so they can get rid of GameStop.  Myself included.  If that's not loyalty, then I don't know what is.

http://www.joystiq.com/2011/03/31/stardocks-brad-wardell-talks-about-selling-impulse-to-gamestop/

In the interview above brad talks about impulse being its largest source of revenue but wants to concentrate on making games.

==I have a few questions in regards to its actual meaning==

1. Too much resources are allocated to running impulse? Does this mean its loosing money on impulse or the amount of profit made is small percentage compared to how much profit is made from selling its applications and games?

2. What's the relationship between ironclad and stardock as a result of selling impulse? In terms of % of profit recieved how much did Stardock make from selling sins of a solar empire.

3. Does stardock have enough money to produce games with the absence of impulse?

4. How is Stardock and impulse interacting in the production of Sins of a Solar Empire rebellion?

If anyone fancies a game on the new Steam SotE, then add me

add Tinkelburg if your interested !!!!!!