I'm also hoping that Galaxy adds more features such as profiles, the ability to appear offline, etc. Perhaps it would be best to wait until it comes out of beta, especially since I can now manage friends list stuff from the website anyway...

You can, currently, still use the Downloader. You have to select GOG Downloader Links from the More button next to the blue Try GOG Galaxy button on the game card to get to them, though.

I've been using the downloader :)

As they say: if ye seek ye shall find.

Yep not using it. Don't really see the need for a client and the binding of game files to some unnecesary trivial blob software. All I wan't is normal way of downloading game installers which "for the moment" gog still offers and hopefully will continue too. Also what is definitely bad with Galaxy is that is an unfinished beta product that will be in testing mode for months/years to come and probably never finished as usual on gog. Very bad thing is certainly the uncompressed download of game files and very high ram usage as reported by gog users using it. So much about the "lite client". Also inadverently clients are data tracking machines regardless of what gog says. One big plus for galaxy for me is multiplayer support but gog already showed that they can offer that without the need for Galaxy client since they support games like Aliens vs Predators and a few others without the need for the client. Eitherway zero interest in it unless it becomes mandatory (but at that point I will definitely leave gog).

You may have all of your needs met by GOG or Steam or some other service or services already, but that doesn't mean that every single potential customer in the world of video gaming has their needs already being fully met by one or another or a combination of services out there right now. So framing the question as "Do we really need another?" is kind of missing the point. That's making an all or nothing proposal to make a decision for every single potential customer out there based on whether one individual feels their own personal needs/desires are being met by some existing offering out there or not. How many brands of vehicle are on the road right now? Why is that? I mean, do we really need more than one single brand of vehicle available? Why isn't every single person driving a Ford, since once Ford vehicles were available - vehicles were available and there was no "need" for anyone else to make a vehicle because it was an already solved problem right? The same could be said with thousands of things in the highly competitive global market.

Everyone wants different types of products and services, features and convenience whether it is in food industry, automobiles, video games or anything else really. The need for these things springs out of the mind of the individual wanting a better experience either because their existing experience is not as good as they'd like it to be, or because they see something else out there that is better in some way than what they have now and they'd like their own experience to improve. This creates demand in the marketplace. All companies out there ultimately are successful or not in the marketplace based on their ability to observe or predict what products and services the market as a whole wants to have or might be interested in and to create either a unique product/service or a competitive one in an effort to tap into an existing or emerging market and become profitable and grow. Companies either respond to what the market wants and tap into the money that's out there or they don't and their competitors will happily take the money.

So tomorrow GOG adds a new game to the store DRM-free, but... that game is already available DRM-free on Shinyloot and Desura. Do we really need GOG to sell that game here? I mean people can already buy it at Shinyloot or Desura so there's no point in GOG selling it here right?

Of course that makes no sense. GOG wants to sell the game here because they do their homework on the game and think it is something that is popular with some portion of the available market out there and someone else might be making money off of it and they would like to make money from selling it too and believe that some portion of their customers will also be interested in buying that game so they seek it out and try to bring it to the GOG store in order to increase the number of products available to their customers and to be rewarded with their customer's money in return instead of just letting Shinyloot and Desura make all of the money off of it and saying "sorry customers, that's already available somewhere else go buy it there instead, we don't want your money for that".

GOG recognizes the essential business fact that every business makes money by providing products and services that are desired by consumers and that by providing additional conveniences to their customers they create value-add, and that ends up making their own product and service offerings more attractive in the marketplace to draw more customers and grow their business.

This isn't about whether or not you can already buy something out there somewhere, it's about whether GOG wants to be a niche boutique only catering to the specific needs of a small group of people and never expand or growing beyond that, or they want to grow their business to reach more customers and make more money by recognizing what people in the larger marketplace want and trying to offer competitive products and services to tap into the larger opportunities that exist out there. They've chosen to want to grow their business and provide more products, services, and conveniences to existing and potential customers to make their offerings more competitive in the marketplace, which IMHO is what a business needs to do if they want to grow and be successful.

No other store out there currently provides an advanced modern gaming platform and services built entirely on a DRM-free foundation, however there very much is a desire by gamers in the marketplace for this to exist. So the answer to "Do we really need another?" is a resounding "yes". Yes we do. Where "we" are the people out here with money to burn have needs/wants/desires that are not being met by any one of the other platforms out there currently.

The real question is - does GOG want our money and patronage? That's a rhetorical question though because obviously they do, and Galaxy is a response to that - a response to an opportunity and a need in the marketplace of which no other competitor out there is currently pursuing in the same manner. When their service becomes stable and complete, they will have a "unique selling point" which is their advantage in the marketplace. It's not that there aren't other clients out there, but rather that there is no other store out there that has a full fledged client, has a focus on DRM-free gaming and a number of other features and values in one place. By providing this to the market they are going to both provide something unique out there that people want which nothing out there currently provides, as well as making themselves appeal to others out there that use existing services that may now find what GOG has to offer more appealing and decide to come and shop here now too.

It's not only listening to customers and potential customer's desires, it's smart business sense.