Sorry if this has been asked and answered, I did a quick search and was not able to locate it.

Do we have a window for a pre-load of the game at all?

Tah

I sort of doubt it, I've never seen a pre-load on Galaxy.

Bright side, game is small by todays standards (6gig) while that still means a couple hours for me to download it could be way way worse.

I'd be happy to be wrong though, fingers crossed.

A post on Reddit showed an email from GOG support saying it's impossible to have preload without DRM so no preload here. Not sure what Steam will offer, but with such a relative small download I'm not sure it really matters for most people.

Weird. Witcher 3 had preload here and it doesn't have any drm either.
If I remember correctly the preloaded version didn't have the game executable instead there was just a message that this was a preloaded version. After release there was a small patch that added the exe.
It gives the players access to all the art assets beforehand but that shouldn't really matter.

That preload was available because CD Projekt Red & GOG are sister companies. Kind of a one-off deal.

I really don't know. I just saw it.

Here's the reddit post.
https://www.reddit.com/r/no_mans_sky/comments/4w17ls/gog_will_not_have_a_preload/

True they can't do it if the developer doesn't want them to. And the different exe solution is a little bit of extra work for the developer.

I thought steam used a similar method though. Encrypting all the files seems a little overkill to me but it's a general solution that should work for all games.

But gog could do that, too. Providing encrypted installer packages isn't exactly drm as long as it's just a simple password protection.

It might be an acceptable form of DRM to you, but it's still DRM nonetheless. Doing so would be a violation of the DRM-free promise, even if only a temporary one.

I don't think it would be drm at all.
If someone provides you with an encrypted archive of data and then provides you with a key that fully decrypts that data it's not drm. Even if the key is provided at a later time.

It would only be drm if the key and decrypted data is somehow hidden from you and later discarded like with Blu-ray discs.
It's the key hiding that makes it drm not the encryption.

And for the time that the key is withheld it's DRM. Albeit temporary, as I mentioned above.

Not really. Without the key it is not the game. It is in essence random data noise.
The same argument could be used say it's DRM that you do not get the game now. They already have it, you already payed. It's DRM that they have not activated the download yet.

At no point are you restricted from running the game once you have it nor, I assume, is there any other DRM like water marks or phoning home.

If you get it by mail, over the internet, all at once, in multiple parts, on dvd, or on floppy disks is irrelevant.

Password locking a game until its released wouldn't be a drm as long as once the release date was passed the requirement was removed. Potential pitchfork waving over a game being locked down prior to its release is misguided at best.

If the rumours of around 5gigs are true then it's not actually that big of a deal to miss out on preloading.

Still means I'll have to wait a good 3 hours after I get home from work but it could be worse.

2meg connection is the best I can get where I live which is one of the reasons I will still look for physical disc versions for the oversized AAA's

Been quite a while since I have been able to sit down and play one of those within an hour of it going live.

I don't use galaxy but I suspect Galaxy will have access first. This is a complete guess though. I am hoping our direct download libraries will be available at the exact time of the countdown though.

I think GoG servers will be under severe strain at this time. :)