I think the main point with Galaxy being optional is that you don't need to use it in order to use (= install or play) your games.
When we talk about the delivery of the installers (=downloading), then Galaxy is just as optional as GOG Downloader ever was. It is odd how no one ever raised i´t as an issue that GOG Downloader was never really "optional" because downloading without it is more work (meaning more clicks, and creating subfolders per game yourself).
To me that is like saying that running or updating your games through Galaxy is not really optional, because doing all that manually is more work.
Suggesting that GOG should actively maintain the legacy GOG Downloader,
while also offering another client which can be used for the exact same purpose, is somewhat silly. Frankly, I feel GOG has so far done as much as anyone could expect from them:
- They still offer separate installers for their games (which you can download in various different ways).
- They still let you download your games without using any client at all.
- Judging by The Witcher 3, even the standalone patches for non-client version seem to appear quite quickly. (This was actually one thing I was fearing a bit, ie. many patches would be delivered only through the auto-update function of Galaxy, and the non-Galaxy versions would be constantly lagging behind with their version. So far this doesn't seem to have happened.)
- Even though Galaxy effectively makes the legacy GOG Downloader obsolete (even for those who just want to download the installers, and install/run/update the games manually without a client), GOG hasn't actively killed the GOG Downloader. They still offer links to download with it, they let you download the client itself; the only thing they are not doing is maintaining it anymore (because those resources are much more wisely used in improving the Galaxy client, which can be used for the exact same purpose).
That said, I personally am more interested into
gogrepo at the moment. :) How's that for having options, huh?