Can I trust Origin the same way I trust Steam?

Solution 1:

No.

I've heard a lot of bad things about their client, their EULA and complaints that Origin is "spyware":

• EA's Origin Sends Personal Data to Third Parties
• EA Says Origin Isn't Spyware, Although It Does Scan Your Entire PC

And from What’s The Deal With EA’s Origin & Is It Really That Bad?:

Conclusion

Origin isn’t terrible, but it doesn’t really offer gamers anything new. From an end-user standpoint this is just another piece of middleware, sitting between the internet and your purchases.

Steam has been tested, and is used by a company with a much better record and repuation as a company. Valve probably had the same issues (maybe worse, in some respects) while growing Steam, but those issues have long been ironed out and I don't remember any EULA-type issues.

I really wanted to play ME3, but personally I won't use "yet another client" (much less one with such attached controversy), so they've lost my dollars until they sell on Steam (without requiring third-party DRM).

Solution 2:

Can I trust this "Origin" DRM (Digital Rights Management) software platform?

Yes. It is fundamentally not worse than Steam as a DRM platform, although it doesn't have as many bells and whistles.

Has anybody done any independent verification on how this platform works?

Not that I'm aware of. "Independent" is practically impossible in a corporate environment, especially with a company as big as EA. Why would they let an outsider into their system, and how could any outsider they nominated be considered independent?

Does the "Origin" platform install anything particularly nasty or unwanted on my computer?

No, Origin doesn't install anything that a reasonable person would consider malware/nasty.