I read the title of this thread, 'Even if HL2 was delayed...it will be released', and thought you were a complete idiot (or mad, one of the two)... it seems I was wrong :)
You do make some good points :)
An advantage of a monopoly would be a slow down in the development cycle, meaning we would actually have time to save up some money after buying a top-of-the-range graphics card before the next one comes out. :P