Without Adalia Fundamentals and Barefoot Essentials (and also gogrepo.py or lgogdownloader and MaGog, of course) the site would be so frustrating I'd have given up on it a long time ago. Says a lot. But yes, GOG will probably have to depend on these magnificent people to do the work, again.

No, how do you think that tools like DownThemAll or other downloaded too work ? They parse the HTML page to locate links to download, it's pretty common, nothing new or special.

If you can differentiate the two version then a tool should be able to do exactly the same, there is no magic here, unless Gog starts to hide the classic download links behind some captcha, but that unlikely to happen.

That's the best solution I've seen so far (if technically feasible, I don't realy know since despite what GOG thinks, I'm not tech-savvy, I just hate bloody clients).

This seems pretty good to me.

Because most likely the default most visible download link will be for the Galaxy version of the installer, with the classic version being further down the page or in the extra section.

So new user will come click on the big download link without knowing or caring that there is another version available elsewhere.

It hurts me to say this, but generally speaking, he's right. 70% of security is installing updates, and 29% of security is not installing buggy updates.

However, the inherent vulnerability of network shit is an even better argument in favor of STANDALONE INSTALLERS with all system/network shit disabled by default. You won't get hacked through an old buggy version of Galaxy if you don't have an old buggy version of Galaxy.

(And the #1 vector for old buggy versions of Galaxy would be the bundled game installers, because those are designed to be put in storage.)

So in other words... Sit on the plan for a while then try and sneak it in again. What bugs me is that gog decided to insult their user's intelligence and con everyone with the whole 'noob friendly' angle instead of just stating (in more diplomatic terms) that they're desperate to ram galaxy down our throat's because it's what publishers want and they've spent a lot of money on it. It's clearly not to help new users when their concession involves yet another installer which will further compound the fictional user base that cannot comprehend how to download galaxy or somehow cannot see the adverts for it scattered everywhere.

You're still likely to end up having to jump through additional hoops to download the non-bloatware installer. Galaxy will remain optional but they'll make it as difficult as possible to avoid it and you'll be treated like a second class citizen for not using it and increasingly miss out on game features such as beta branches and online play.

I guess, but it's still incredibly complicated, and I wonder how long GOG will be willing to maintain those "inferior" hidden installers after that. They may just go the way of the 'optional' GOG downloader eventually. Out of sight, out of mind. :P

Agreed, and don't forget that some longtime users already have left GOG because of this not even knowing that the reason for their leaving MAY not exist anymore ("may" because I am careful here before I see that this really is working long time). How about GOG using the community wishlist for such big changes to prevent such reactions? Maybe even introducing a poll would be a nice idea. Yes, I know the forum community is not the majority but we are still a big part of paying customers and as being said most of us are pretty loyal - meaning buying gamnes here again and again (unfortunately more than I'll play in a lifetime but who cares ;)).

Not necessarily, I don't know how Gog handle their installers but usually it's not something you do "manually", you put the files, in this case the game files, in some "source" folder then you launch a script and it create the installer automatically.

So having a script that, using those sources files, create a single installer, or having a script that create two installers, one with Galaxy and one without, should only represent a minor extra work especially if the upload is also automated.

Well based on their answer :

Apparently they plan something similar with a "minimal" stub program included with the installer downloading the latest version of Galaxy.

As I said in my answer to Rixasha, if the installer creation process is automated (and I strongly suspect it is) then creating a single installer or creating two at the same time doesn't really increase the workload too much, especially if the only difference between the two installer is whenever or not it contain Galaxy.

1. good news... i just hope it will be effectively true then
2. well, as many gog galaxy features are bound to being online (multiplayer, cloud save, auto update) it just makes sense to make a small "online-based" galaxy installer in the games rather than bundling a possibly big and outdated version of it offline...

also, it would be very likable to have galaxy uninstalling in a clean way rather than leaving behind some little parts that can cause bugs to games (as i already experienced over a dozen of times)
or maybe provides a little optional tool to be manually downloaded for some of us that would put some registry entry that would say to new installers "hey, this user already decided in advance he would like to install/not to install galaxy during the whole game installation process"

so, of course, not putting a "remember my choice" button in the installers themselves (it could beconfusing for the users that were thought to need auto opt-in galaxy install), but instead a little tool for us to set "in advance" the state of the opt-in/opt-out checkbox as a generic default behavior...

does that dsound "reasonable" ? or am i asking too much ?

Yeah, I presume either it will be either like with Darksiders where there are the new Warmastered and Legacy installers in the same list one after another, or the "classic" (Galaxy-free) versions will be in the Extras, like in the case of e.g. Broken Sword.

I think Extras (Game Goodies) section doesn't respect any OS or language filters but is common for all, so the Extras would then include all different OS and/or language versions (just like in Broken Sword there are the classic Linux and Mac versions on the same Extras page, even though you have set your filters to Windows & English).

So if e.g. The Witcher 3 non-Galaxy versions would be put on the Game Goodies (Extras)) in the download page, I guess it would have all the links to all of the seven different language versions, one after another. I guess that is not a big problem if you select or click precisely the files you want from the long list, but if you wanted to use something like the old GOG Downloader (where you just click on Extras and it downloads all Extras in one swoop), or a mass-downloading tool like lgogdownloader or gogrepo, then it would always download all the seven different language versions from under Extras.

Well, you have assuaged most fears. I automatically update my library with a third party script. I guess it's time to badger the creator of gogrepo.py to add a filter ability, because my library is too big to manage this manually in a reasonable time, and I don't have space for bloated installers, much less bloated installers AND classic installers. But thank you for hearing us, Destro!

yep in fact this whole logic puzzled me sincemy earlier reply today in this thread...

i mean, sure the peeps need to get galaxy with their first game, but then after they wont need any other offline installers because further purchased games will be delivered to them through galaxy; of course, as you cant predict which first game it will be for everyone at once and which will they download first, you "have" to put galaxy in every offline installer for this purpose

wait... wouldnt a different solution be easier for them:
after checkout, just put a big purple box telling "click here to download your just purchased game(s)" (with a small line: using gog galaxy)
and then a second part of the page, more discreet: or go to your account page to manually download and install your games instead

and again, on account page, put a big flashy purple box on top of it saying "click to download and install your gog galaxy game center and manage your collection with it" (make the box cookie-dismissable for peeps who were used to the old way)

if you put right in front of peeps nose that galaxy IS the default/only method to quickly and conveniently get their game, and remind them about that first after each purchase, and put back the manual old way to an advanced tab such peeps would be too lazy to ever click on and would not even notice if they are not actively searching for it, then it would solve both problems

Given your track record in recent years, and your absolutely abysmal communication skills, unfortunately many of us care less and less as time goes by. You, more than most companies, once had massive amounts of goodwill from your users in the bank, but you seem hell-bent on pissing it all down the drain with an unending series of stunts like this.

I cannot stress this enough: communication is the most important tool at your disposal, and you fail horribly at using it to your advantage.
And it's a completely bonkers and illogical reasoning. People who want to use Galaxy will download and install Galaxy. People who don't will download their games as offline installers. That's all there is to it. Your reasoning makes absolutely zero sense.
Why does it always take a public shitstorm before you people will even consider not screwing over your customers?
Good. If you had started with this plan, this wouldn't have escalated the way it did. You know, if you had actually spent 5 minutes thinking about the ridiculousness of your latest harebrained scheme before spending who knows how many hundreds of man-hours actually implementing it, and only then presenting it to your customers in the form of the now well-known Good News™.
Which makes sense, because Galaxy is basically an online tool. Yes, it will work offline (as well it should), but I don't see any point in anyone installing Galaxy at all if they never intend for it to be online.
Good. This is what you should have done from the beginning. For some unfathomable reason, you keep trying to launch new features before they are finished (where the hell are our notifications?!), and as a result, our user experience gets worse every time.
And that is perfectly fine. Nobody minds that Galaxy exists. I think it's great that it does, and that it provides you with the means to implement such features, and provides the users who want those features with a way to enjoy them.

What is not perfectly fine is that you continue to find more and more elaborate ways to try to forcibly push it on people who don't want it, all the while spouting the official company line of "it's 100% optional", even while your actions clearly show that you really want it to be 100% mandatory.
I can only speak for myself, but:

My immediate concerns about this particular change? Yes.

My concerns about your attitude towards the people who helped you get this far by supporting your business with their money? No.

My concerns about the direction in which you are heading as a company? No.

My guess is you have already lost quite a few customers over this particular stunt. I think a lot more are almost at the end of their patience, and will abandon you the next time you do something as hostile as this. And let's face it, we all know it's going to happen, and probably sooner rather than later. Your actions over the past few years clearly show that you don't learn from your mistakes, and you don't particularly care either.