There is no reason to cut it off.

You know what!?

This so-called-change seems to me GOG is becoming more similar to Steam: no choice left to customers but only unilateral decisions.

You'll see: next step will be keeping only Galaxy to download our titles.

GOG don't care, they just wanna be like Steam.

will the lack of the Downloader affect your purchasing decisions here?

Totally.

Unfortunately, and I personally couldn’t care less about gog downloader, that does appear to be the ultimate goal. Steam has drm free games, all delivered in its client, alongside others which do have varying levels of drm. I imagine that there is now only a small percentage of the userbase not using galaxy.

Sad thing is: I was a GOG customer (like many others) because it was different, because I'm done with Steam.

Well, I'll purchase more books than my usual from now, I guess.

Sorry, I couldn’t let it go, you were a GOG costumer? Is that some sort of weird cosplay thing :o)

Yes, thankfully though we still have browser downloads for offline installers (although they come with galaxy components), so that is something to be happy about.

As long as there is a download method that does not involve a client, it's fine by me. Even though I only use Galaxy and haven't touched the downloader since Galaxy was released, I'll definitely be getting serious red flags if it becomes mandatory. It should always be optional. The major difference being that GOG offers installers. With DRM-free Steam games, you can copy the game folder and it'll still work outside of Steam, but afaik if you simply copy it onto another computer, some required components may not carry over. This also goes for GOG games - I made a copy of my Shadow Warrior 2 folder, moved it onto my new system, and it wouldn't run due to missing .dlls.

we have NOT USED the gOg downloader for at least 6 years

That's my fear too.

While I used Downloader as my primary option, I do admit this won't affect future purchases, SO LONG AS there is still the totally DRM-free browser option.

Over the years I've learned that as a consumer you have to be careful about this company saying "DRM-free". As, they apparently consider things like Galaxy and Galaxy requirements for multiplayer as "DRM-free".

Hopefully everyone stays vigilant and gets them to reverse course if they start thinking about making offline installers into Galaxy installers (again).

In the main I agree with you, and always tell people to store the downloaders rather than trying to copy existing installs. However, I was pointing out that it is possible, if not as simple. Also on epic, a lot of people got the Arkham games from there for free and drm free. True, takes a little bit of know how, but it is still possible.

I have a few non-loaded questions. Please help me understand.

1. Wasn't GOG downloader just another client that you had to log into?
2. Don't games installed with Galaxy work even if you uninstall the launcher?
3. If the above question is true, then why do people dislike it versus using the website?

1) not quite a full client, only the download part. A client can do other things like achievements, online saves etc. Downloader was a smaller simpler app.

2) yes, they should do.

3) for many reasons. First, to access the store, you need to login, that is the same regardless, so forget that. Now, a browser is used for the internet in general, email, webpages, downloads, etc. And you can choose from the vast selection of browsers out there. Galaxy is a proprietary client built by GOG as a tool for its games. You have no choice in that, you use it or don’t (currently). It could also be used for unwanted things. For example it could be used as a drm mechanism, I.e. you can only play games through it,like steam. Not the case at the moment other than gwent and some multiplayer, but that is a major fear. It could also be doing anything behind the scenes, harvesting data, taking telematics etc. Sure browsers can do this, but your free to move to a more private one if chrome has stolen every shred of information from your machine. Finally, it adds further mostly unwanted (by some at least) features, such as storing saves in the cloud (never trust the cloud for anything), pointless achievements, uautomatic updating of games which can break modding etc.

Ultimately, if you want a client, and are happy with that, really no point shopping here as steam has a far better selection generally with better prices, and some of their games are drm free.
Historically gog have always been walking this tightrope of wanting customers from steam, who basically want steam and don’t care about drm, and those customers ears who do want completely drm free software (who are a minority now). I. The past galaxy has been fully bundled with installers, and after a long outcry this was removed. However now we are seeing parts of galaxy once again creep into offline installers. More multiplayer is being provided via galaxy, updates appearing much later in installers. So yes there is a fairly large gap between galaxy and gog downloader.

Did they remove the ability to backdate updates?

Basically what you say is, it's not good for people who want to remain in the past. Ideal for XP and Win 7 users.

1. While I guess you could say Downloader is "technically" a client in a software sense, that misses the context of how people actually talk and use the term in practice. Those of us who are anti-Galaxy and pro-Downloader would consider Downloader to be "a download manager" more than a "client". While from my understanding, Galaxy is indeed able to act as a download manager, it is NOT able to be "only a download manager" the way that Downloader is. That is a key distinction for many of us. If GOG released a Galaxy-lite that was essentially the exact same as Downloader just with the new name, then it would be fairer to equate the two. Not sure I would consider trying it myself, since I don't have trust in the Galaxy brand, only the GOG brand. Also, "logging in" isn't the "gotcha" you seem to think it is. We have to be logged into the website itself to download our purchases via browser, after all, so that's a non-starter.

2-3. Valve's super successful client and its forced DRM on like 95% of games drove me away from PC gaming for nearly a decade and a half. I refuse clients or Scheme-like structures on principle alone, as well as for practical reasons like usability (i.e. the old-fashioned way of installing things I find objectively superior to the client way). Beyond that, GOG's unique selling point as a business is DRM-free offline installers...NOT CLIENT USE. Anyone can get "client use" from their pick of businesses like Scheme, EA, Ubisoft, etc and can even play the latest AAA games on those. For GOG to stand out in a competitive market where it is just staying afloat, it should focus on providing what other stores cannot (or will not) provide. The removal of Downloader is a signal to many of us that our choices other than "client use" (meaning Galaxy) are continuing to erode.


Edit: I'm keeping my post here intact, but nightcraw1er answered faster than me along the same lines :)