Power-users? A few extra clicks? It's a damn .exe installer. How much more simple does it get?

It should be the standard option. There shouldn't be a huge GOG Galaxy button in the first place. Which is the only reason this thing ever got "popular".

Correction: it is the option that the vast majority of users would be prefered by gog to be channeled through.

The myriad of of menus (which you refer to as two clicks) was purposefully more difficult to visibly see and access because it was not the prefrered option to be channeled through.

This is also basic UI design manipulation.

I don't know, for example clicking on a single link and have the game downloaded, installed and updated without having anything else to do, like how it is done for years on their biggest competitor.

Before Galaxy where wasn't a day without one or two thread about peoples who purchased a game and had absolutely no idea how to install it, for a lot of peoples it has become too "complicated" or bothersome to double click on an installer.

No it got popular because it's convenient, same thing for auto-updates, cloud saves, etc... in the same way than digital downloads are when compared to physical because it's a lot more convenient than having to go to a shop to purchase a physical copy.

Perhaps that strategy:
Maybe for GOG's management the logical consequence of adding the game library of a shop to Galaxy is to also add the shop itself. Galaxy is not for free, its development cost them a lot of money. And money beats principles, as usual. FCKDRMfree!

I will ignore the embarrassing consoomer-shaming and put into perspective that I owe nothing to any company as a sovereign being, even if it can be seen as benevolent compared to [MEGA EVIL CORPORATION]. Avoiding the games with the worst DRM, online-only features, Denuvo, VMProtect, Epic Games Store, most of Uplay and Origin, except certain games at about 90% off, all of it has been extremely easy.
I have tons of games from GOG on a few accounts and I'll never get to play them all to completion, plus there is guitar, other instruments, languages to learn, people to help, nature to explore, etc.
I'm sure I'll get to buy game installers from GOG for many years to come before that becomes increasingly difficult or even impossible, and when I do longer spend money on these video games, I can assure you I won't give a flying fuck.

I see where the sentiment comes from, and I assure you I will never feel or accept any blame in seeing GOG possibly become a cesspool. I bought the games I wanted when they bothered announcing them, I rebought games here, but they've been testing my patience for a long time.

They just spent the past 12 years telling everyone how bad DRM is for gamers and game preservation, how unethical a practice it is and how they'll never sell anything with it. They took a principled stance on this matter and built up their reputation and brand on it (and being against unethical practices in the games industry in general), they've run numerous initiatives promoting DRM-freedom and standing against DRM, promising never to go back on their last core value, and now suddenly they've turned around and decided it's actually fine and they intend to sell DRM'ed games themselves.

It's even worse that they've decided to do this with the Epic Store, with all of their really dodgy practices - they're practically the polar opposite of GOG and this move goes completely against what GOG used to stand for.

At the time it was implemented Galaxy was brand new and the majority of users would have wanted the installers. Furthermore, what about them not having the website remember which selection you made previously so you didn't have to click through every time? They already do this for other options, and they did it for other options added since...

Also, what about them bundling the Galaxy installer and having it install Galaxy by default without telling the user (diverging from previous installer behaviour) and hiding the opt-out checkbox behind the advanced options? And again, not remembering the user's previous selection as was done for other settings.

What about them again not having the website remember your previous selection when they did the separate Galaxy/non-Galaxy installers? This led to a lot of people accidentally downloading the wrong installer, wasting people's time and bandwidth, with some not noticing until after they had already installed it and found that they suddenly had an unwanted Galaxy install.

If I wanted all that garbage that gives me less control over my stuff, I'd buy only on Steam and key sellers. If lack of software ownership is more convenient, there are tons of options these days. Maybe it will take mandatory patches on Galaxy to break a few games before it's all obvious.

There is a disable update feature. Galaxy does not force updates like Steam... just sayin.

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Disclaimer: I do not work for GOG.com, nor am I paid by GOG.com. All views expressed in this post are my own, and do not represent the views of GOG.com or it's employees. My views are expressed as a fan, gamer, and fellow GOG user... that is all. Thank you.

What part of my post did you not understand?

Well here you can have one click download, auto-updates, cloud saves, etc... and at the same time, have the possibility to download offline installers. How exactly is it "less control" or "lack of software ownership" ?

All of it? What you said is impossible as GOG gives you the "control" you seek... o.O

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Disclaimer: I do not work for GOG.com, nor am I paid by GOG.com. All views expressed in this post are my own, and do not represent the views of GOG.com or it's employees. My views are expressed as a fan, gamer, and fellow GOG user... that is all. Thank you.

That's why I still buy games on GOG and have to use Galaxy anyway to download the big ones. Steam is still much more convenient, and you can easily backup the game files as well. The only difference is needing a crack to install the game offline with other clients. GOG still has one tiny advantage, and it's trying to hide it and make new customers not even know about it.

I recall GOG saying they had a major studio willing to publish their movies here, but only on the condition that there were regional restrictions (likely to comply with contracts made with distributors around the world), but the community was strongly opposed to the idea of regional restrictions then, to the point that GOG abandoned the idea.

How things have changed since then.

Can you see in the future?