Firstly, that BF3 was going to be an Origins exclusive has been obvious for a while. Am I going to use it? Only if I have to, and it's highly probable that BF3 will be integrated with the service. If the game will self run w/o the service, then I don't see a problem. i.e. Problems ahoy.
Now, the history lesson. Steam was created by Valve to get rid of the old ridiculous methods of patching games. It used to be that when an online game was updated, CS in particular, the server admins would have to find the patch and update their servers. Then the players would have to find the patch and update their copies. This led to a stupid situation where servers and players would be constantly out of sync with each other whenever a game was updated. Valve approached several companies asking them to build a system to auto-patch games. Microsoft, Yahoo, etc all rejected them, so Valve build their own.
Fast forward ten years and Steam has become the juggernaut of DD on PC. So much so that the companies that were given the chance to build the system but didn't are now trying to make services to compete with it. It's the delicious irony of it all. Valve took the ball and ran with it and now everyone is pissed that they fumbled it.
At least, unlike Microsoft's shitty GFWL, EA actually has some games to put on their service. But they face a steep hill. Even if, in some unlikely turn of events, they churn out a product that's as good or better than Steam, they'll face the daunting inertia of gamers who have dozens of friends who already use Steam. You see it happen all the time with the 360, for example. A gamer gets their 18th rrod, but buys another 360 because that's where all their friends are and it's familiar.
Someday, Valve will lose their grip and a different service will reign supreme. Consider me skeptical that that day is soon or near. I don't think that forcing people to use your service is a logical inroad into Steam's hold on PC gamers. Better service and services are the best approach. Good luck, EA, you're going to need it.