A bit shallow on the analysis compared to what I recall from the print side, haven't read lately so it could have changed...
Would have live to read a bit more on the digital vs real angle, linker up to sites like boingboing and the Make direction. Steampunk is cyberpunk brought back to something you can (imagine / visualize) being able to create yourself. While cyberpunk gives you a bit of ressonance if you program, most webusers really don't. So steampunk mixes in the tangible rather than a complex and encompassing digital realm, whilst still retaining the flair of the fantastic.
steampunk is clearly not just a look, but an embrace of a nearly mythical era of mad science and weird contraptions
The visual style and the golden age (1920'ies careless or carefree...) has been used to great effect both for movies like Sherlock Holmes (pre-steam...) and games such as Bioshock.
Is it the feeling that everything was simpler, understandable yet still outside your control?
Sure you could fit together the pieces of a diving suit, but the dark waters were still scary. But now it is close to magic, packages flying at literally the speed of light around the world with thousands of servers, switches and cables involved in the simpelst act of wathcing a video or writing a text.
...and the sun has probably set behind the grey clouds...
