> Free graphics drivers, Linux-libre, etc.
That definitely isn't going to happen. With Valve's audience, they need SteamOS to work with AMD and (current) Nvidia cards. Virtually nobody in this audience would ever consider Intel integrated graphics or Nouveau-supported Nvidia cards to be acceptable.
There is no doubt in my mind that SteamOS is going to include every proprietary driver and firmware it can. And frankly, given the purpose of the system (to run Steam, a proprietary program, and use it to download games powered by other proprietary software), this won't make SteamOS any worse than it already is.
I suspect SteamOS will also include Adobe's Flash player (probably via Google Chrome, because it's the only way to get the latest Flash from Adobe on GNU/Linux now), because after all, there are a lot of Flash games, and that boosts the appeal to Valve's audience of the system. Probably Adobe Reader if they can, because they don't want confused customers asking why they can't open a DRM-encumbered PDF. Gotta play encrypted DVDs without getting into trouble, so expect to see proprietary DVD-playing software, too. In fact, better include every proprietary program available for GNU/Linux in the repos, because that broadens the potential audience.
In short, what drugs are you on, expecting SteamOS to be free except for games? They don't appeal to an audience that cares in the first place at all, and they have all sorts of reasons to include every proprietary program they legally can.
