For those of you who don't already have the game this is a great time to pick it up on Steam. Personally what I've seen from the game is fast-paced gameplay with very interesting weapon choices. At any rate a very fun game.
Here's what they had to say about it
on their website:
We're proud to announce that Quake Live is now available as a Free to Play game on Steam. We've seen an explosion of new players on the servers in the past couple of days, and are thrilled a whole new audience is now able to experience the joy of fast arena shooters. We don't have much else to say on the matter, besides hop in and check out all the game types through the Team Combat and Variety Pack playlists!
Existing players can use the Steam version by visiting the store page. Porting your existing account over is a one way process; after linking your account to Steam you will not be able to use the old standalone launcher.
Feel free to check it out!
Edit:
Originally I remembered the game not being free but apparently I was wrong, either way it's on Steam now!