Hmmmmmmmmmm.... I haven't payed attention to HL2 since the preload was delayed, but still voted yes. (Keep hoping).....
That would be a shocker(and delightful, don't get me wrong) but would guess that the preload would start as soon as they had a core of unchanging files and appropriate server...
This is correct as far as I know.
Developers don't like to run isolated networks (when is the last time you sat in front of a computer for 8 hours and didn't check something on the internet?) Security just went lax temporarily...somehow.
I don't know where they mentioned "3d skyboxes," but this would mean that clouds are rendered as actual relevant entities in the game, leading me to believe that they would interact and dynamically affect lighting from the sun.