Well, the skeptics have called this nothing more than a glorified internship. I think the problem for Valve is that they could just wipe their bums with a piece of paper, and everyone will have a strong opinion on how well they did, or didn't do it.
Overall, this seems like a decent initiative to get some cheap workers yet also help some kids along the way. Unfortunately, Valve is such a high profile company with such little news in terms of game development, that unrelated stuff like this ends up being frustrating, which is probably not entirely Valve's fault.
That being said, the frustration comes form Valve not releasing actual games. Even titles like TF2 and L4D, which I really enjoyed... but they seem like diversions. Where are the the games that go toe to toe with the blockbusters of the world? Where is the new Half-Life?
I guess they are like Blizzard in the sense that they always play it safe, except with Blizzard products the money shows.
I know, I know, Valve owe me nothing. They've done absolutely nothing wrong, and there is nothing wrong with their business model. I just feel like they are a bit pussified.
edit:
I like what Idol says about Valve's lack of investment in customer support. I think they just don't like investing money. To a fault.
