No it's not.

Rather, it's a way for them to push the Galaxy 2.0 client onto most people.

And the fact they are pro-actively pushing Galaxy 2.0 so hard doesn't bode well for the site remaining DRM-free much longer into the future. They've already been slowly creeping away from that such as by including DRM in some singleplayer games and selling DRM'ed EGS games through Galaxy.

It's probably only a matter of time until DRM-free becomes openly optional for all new games coming to GOG.

And the OP of this thread is a bad omen which is further pointing in that direction.

I think that is the main point point of this promo - convince people to give Galaxy a try, by offering an incentive.
I too have installed Galaxy before, and while I did want 1 or 2 features (track my game time & cloud saves), didn't really like it.
So I uninstalled it, and that's it. I later reinstalled it for Gwent + a free Witcher, and again got tired of it and it went away.
Since, I simply had no reason to try it again, even though I hear quite often about new features and etc.

Others in a similar position, or those new to Galaxy altogether might give it a try now,
If they have any interest in The Witcher (for example because of the Netflix series), and who knows, they might even like it.

I think Gog has spent a considerable effort in building and maintaining Galaxy, and do try to make it best for everyone.
It's not unheard of if once in a couple of months they try to push it forward, as long as it's done in a non-intrusive fashion.

edit: It seems there are issues with Galaxy that makes it not safe to be used, This is definitely un-acceptable, and should be dealt with prior to any promos aimed towards expanding its usage.
Also, in an effort to keep it optional and customizable, Gog must allow blocking any optional feature such as Purchasing on EGS.

No they aren't. And I have no idea what that quoted post is "highly rated." It shouldn't be IMO.

The principle behind why GOG is doing this is sinister: to push Galaxy onto more people and thus further lurch away from their DRM-free principles.

This act is yet another stepping-stone which is leading towards Galaxy becoming equivalent to Steam DRM.

And if we GOG customers don't call it out for what it is, and likewise all the similar stepping-stones (i.e. selling EGS-DRmed games on GOG, and not caring that No Man's Sky has DRM in it, etc). then that's how DRM-ed GOG games will eventually (maybe sooner than later) become "the new normal" on GOG.

The lack of opposition to these stepping-stones towards a DRM-filled GOG, and "highly rating" the stepping-stones as if they a great thing...well, that's akin to when diplomats conquer a foreign country with just their words and without going to war or deploying any soldiers.

I will never give up offline installers. If GOG ever requires Galaxy for downloads and installs, I will stop buying games from them. IMO that would be a form of DRM and I'll have none of it.

You might want to look at Gameplay Time Tracker:
https://www.gameplay-time-tracker.info/en/default.aspx

Nice unobtrusive free program that does just that.

Thanks! This does sound on paper what I wanted.
If it will be possible in the future to ingest the data into Galaxy (and back), I might just use the former as my day to day,
then sync into Galaxy whenever I feel there is a reason to get that data "on the cloud" for easy retrieval.

Until that point, I might still use it every time I wish to start tracking a new game, So thanks again.

And for cloud saves, GameSave Manager includes the ability to backup / Live Sync saves to any cloud service of your choice (Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, etc) and works with non-GOG (old discs / DOS / emulated, etc) games too.

I don't use it so im not complaining

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Or, three...

This is a game offered on discount a lot of times, or for free. I am sure this is just a testing for some new Galaxy features. It reminds me a lot when Galaxy 1 was launched and they had Aliens vs Predator as a testing, given as a giveaway, for multiplayer.

Every move GOG does, the enemies of GOG are enabled. Fundamentalists, fearmongers,etc, and all of them believe that they are the DRM savers. GOG savers, Or the savers of the World, and the liberty. And the enemy is within.

If someone is so toxic to not recognize that even with Galaxy installed you can run your games without Galaxy, I must define it as trolling.

If everything is about what will happen five years or three or two later, I will only define it as lunatics and idiots with a crystal ball,

As a Linux user, there's an image that comes to mind.

As someone who already has a copy of Witcher 1, I feel it can be reapplied.

Addendum: It's nearly 2021 and we're really having to look at a 2019 date on the Galaxy website.

If it were just an isolated thing, you may have a point. But it isn't. We all know what the "2nd class citizen" thing is about and even in the past 2 hours there's been yet another thread created. So spare us the patronizing "anyone who doesn't want to use a client (on a store famous for selling client-less installers) must be a troll" BS. You've certainly been around long enough to know better.

The only real question that needs asking is this : "Is there any technical reason why The Witcher couldn't be given away via normal means benefiting both Galaxy users and offline users alike, pleasing everyone and displeasing no-one?" The answer is no. So the sudden "gating" of giveaways of client-less games behind clients is an entirely "political" move which naturally is going to generate a backlash. If you don't like to hear such backlash, then encourage GOG to stop endlessly pitching half of it's customer base against the other half in a series of lame gimmicks as a "substitute" for fixing outdated installers and treating all GOG customers as First Class Citizens...

The thing is, even if they work, they're using a 10 year old version of an installer, rather than the 2020 version of the same installer. It's baffling. I thought they didn't update because the thing was moribund, but nope.

Who knows what nice features could be missing from the newer installers, like deltas or proper patching support.