how is this the first time in a five page thread that the steam "machine" concept comes up. Sure you may say valve has delayed the project but the companies that make the machines were ready to launch, and didnt know about the delay until the media and consumers did. Just look at alienware they are actually still going to launch their steam machine (alienware alpha) with a 360 controller and have it boot into big picture mode from windows startup, and it still can use a keyboard and mouse.
http://www.alienware.com/landings/alpha/