Used SE for many years and of course did get 0.990. And it is freaking awesome!
Was very disappointed though that it was through Steam. I know, it's a personal preference but I do really hate Steam.
And especially sad when I discovered that Steam MUST run to run SE. I have 1 other program (Witcher 3 ) which is also Steam, but that can run without loading Steam by using the Witcher 3 EXE directly.
Is there a way or are there plans to do that with SE too?

No, because SE uses Steam DRM system. Making SE standalone means what I must implement my own DRM system. There are a lot of more important tasks for now.

I totally understand. Thanks for answer.

Doesn't it also help from it being pirated? As in, cannot run SE at all unless steam is running with you logged into your account with SE purchased?

No, because SE uses Steam DRM system. Making SE standalone means what I must implement my own DRM system. There are a lot of more important tasks for now.

Vlad, I have a low probability question to ask, but it is on my mind so I wanted to ask it anyway.  If Steam goes out of business one day, how will we be able to run SE?  I bought it through Steam and I am hoping that never happens, but if it does what happens to SE?  Also, does the 20-25 dollars we paid for SE give us all future versions for free (one-time fee) or will there be a charge for each major version release?  Thanks for an amazing product, 0990 was a big upgrade!

If Steam goes out of business one day, how will we be able to run SE?

If Steam goes out of business one day, I doubt our main concern will be if we can run SE.

Also, does the 20-25 dollars we paid for SE give us all future versions for free (one-time fee) or will there be a charge for each major version release?

I believe there will be a small charge for every major release (like for e.g. from 0.990 to 1.000 but not from 0.990 to 0.991 (I hope ).
I also hope the fee will be smaller for existing players. But it is Vladimir's program so he may charge whatever he wants.