Those offline installers are people's drm free archival installers for their games.

One needs to download all parts for the current version of each game(the exe, and any bin files as well, for the main game and any purchased dlc) and save them somewhere to have a backup of their games.

Usually the browser download system works for most people, BUT some have issues with it and liked to use the old GOG DLer as well....but GOG shut that down as it is an old version of the one in galaxy and that upset a few people who depended on it(some of whom dislike galaxy for some reason or other).

As for downloading through galaxy: Downloading through galaxy doesn't make such archival copies automatically unless one specifically downloads said installers through a separate page or tab of galaxy.

===============

Not gonna lie, I bumped it to reply to a few posts, and i'm sorry for that(if doing so bothered anyone)....but let's be honest:

Someone else would've likely bumped it soon enough if I didn't, and it will likely die back down soon enough anyways.

Oh my. Why can't they just make it keep going? There is nothing bad going to happen in giving people more ways to download their game.

Not excusing it, but they did it most likely because the replacement (galaxy) is available.

Also it likely cost them a small bit of work and money to keep it going....and seeing that gog makes very thin profits, I can somewhat see why they might have gone that route, and why they have made some other choices(even those I disagree with).

Cost wise and work wise it didn't cost anything to keep it going, since the program had been left as is and was doing its job just fine. Now if you're referring to the work of having to add GogDownloader links to the games' download page, then at which point are adding offline installer links is deemed too much work and scrapped together, so only downloading links via 'optional' Galaxy becomes the only way to download your games?

At the end of the day, let's not beat around the bush shall we? Who owns GOG and thus makes decisions, indeed as a business whose aims is to be profitable? And who as such took decisions making it clearer as time goes by which road they've chosen to take? Really no need to be a rocket scientist to figure that one out, some of us here already did. But that doesn't mean we have to roll over in silence, those old-timers still here who made GOG what it is today have every legitimate reason to be pissed off and let it be known, idem with newer Goggers like myself sharing the sentiment, even though some keep telling us again and again because they can't on won't stop themselves, that there's no point to it and yadiyadibhah.

On that, the 1570 who voted on the wishlist, myself included, may beg to differ.

A preface:

Note that I don't say any of this to be mean or hurtful. I just am a person who believes in being blunt and telling the cold hard truth sometimes over lying to make people happy.

I myself used to waste a ton of time (and still do a tiny bit) trying to fix GOG and get change enacted, and after seeing it not work so often in some specific areas I learned to focus my efforts on things I can change(on GOG and elsewhere).....and when I see others possibly wasting time on such or clinging to such I feel compelled a bit to speak uo about it.

=================================

Do you perhaps have proof it didn't cost them any time or money?

Just because they kept it going doesn't mean it was cost free necessarily.

Maybe it was always a time/money sink to some degree and they ate the cost? Who knows.

All I know is that now it's gone now, and it's not like GOG did it for pure di*kish reasons.....i.e. it likely wasn't them twiddling their moustaches and saying "mwahaha, now we will remove their precious downloader and watch them cry about it" or similar.

Because there is little point to it beyond venting at this point.

GOG made it's choice, and this "push back" is largely ineffective (as shown by near 4 months of silence on GOG's part) and a waste of time in it's current form, and anyone who thinks it still has a decent chance to work is just lying to themselves.

Comparatively speaking,1570 is "nothing"(when compared to the total user base).

And before you or anyone else says "but we're important! We should matter to them!"....know that the sad fact is that to most companies we're all just interchangeable walking wallets.

GOG likely got more new users during their little vid card giveaway, for example, than 10 times the number of voters on this issue.

Then we're on the same page here because when it comes to speaking my mind, I'm right there too. It's been obvious from the get go you're feeling, quite a lot, compelled to speak about it, so you too have been wasting your time.

Are you serious here? How can the program itself ,left as is for as long as it was, could possibly have cost money? No money nor time was spent at all on it since final version. Right back at you in perhaps proving it did cost both.

1)There because I was specifically talking about adding the download links, I say it again that with this reasoning of yours they could scrap non Galaxy offline downloads links. So I'll grant you to some degree about time adding links, but money? Doubt that.

2)Was anything to the effect of being done out of spite or whatever similar mentioned? I think not but what some of us did openly say, is that we suspected the road likely to be taken was for Galaxy to no longer be the optional client it was always supposed to be. Which is far from being far fetched, even more so now.

Just like there was little point you keeping time and time again telling us the same thing over and over again, and yet...?
Beside being up to people to decide on their course of action here, from pretty much the beginning you've been like what I'd call a false positive: saying you'd hope for a positive outcome, BUT, because there's always been a but, what you wrote above pretty much outlines those buts. Perhaps it has escaped you that it's not children you were addressing, but adults more than capable to make decision for themselves and unless a mind reader, you do not know what they think, let alone if they are lying to themselves, as you put it.

That maybe so that it's comparatively nothing as you say, still doesn't mean that the nothing had to be stripped of their voice. The rest is assumption on your part: assumption of what I or others would say, not to mention the assumption that we don't know what customers are to most companies.

Another assumption is that very little would know about business and marketing. Yes no doubt, plenty of new users for the video card giveway, and I'll add the Witcher one (bought somewhere else? Get it free here too), and most likely a safe bet that it adds to much more than just us, wasting our time, as you repeatedly said. But users are one thing, buyers and returning ones at that, another.

Anyway, very little doubts left that conversations with you on that subject are a dead end, a sure waste of time, pretty much like playing chess with a pigeon.

Personal opinion. I think Ignoring the minority is a huge mistake a group can have. It already happened in the world out there, and it didn't goes well. Even though the minority is small, they can have a huge impact for a group.

Well, that's just my point of view and experience.

My GOGRepo GUI option is coming along really well, but please vote if you haven't.

LET GOG KNOW HOW YOU FEEL BY VOTING
https://www.gog.com/wishlist/site/keep_the_gog_downloader_and_keep_it_up_to_date

We are up to 1572 votes now. :)

These votes are not as meaningless as some would have you believe. They send a clear message to GOG, and while they are probably unlikely to cause the return of the old GOG Downloader, they may impact other issues or decisions, and as they say, better to be proactive now, than try and change something after it happens.

P.S. I wish I made so much profit that I could ignore the pleas of 1572 customers.

I have, but have been cutting back as of late.

Also I have tons more free times to waste, sadly(mostly home bound)....whereas many of the others here such as yourself might have less time to spare.

You're forgetting the staff costs....GOG has to pay staff to maintain such things, most likely, and the slightly longer staff hours would be a factor as well(albeit slight).

I am not trying to state that it's a huge cost, but there's very likely still a cost to maintain such things....and with GOG having tight margins and them being focused on galaxy(bleh) they needed to trim the fat.

Heck, I think they cut staff at one point as well to save money.

Read above about the money thing.

As for them scrapping the browser downloads....seeing as some cannot use galaxy(wrong OS version, galaxy won't work for some reason, etc) I don't think they would scrap such...at least not for the foreseeable future.

Didn't some say or infer in both threads they felt GOG was being uncaring intentionally towards them? I think so, but of course might be misremembering.

It is somewhat assumption, but assumption based on logic and reasoning, as said above....and I was talking about the hangers on here in general, not about any specific person....so yes, what I assume likely doesn't apply to everyone.

I have actually agreed with some points made here and have been open minded, while trying to make logical points and encourage discussion. So I don't feel what i've posted is that bad(like playing chess with a pigeon I mean).

==========================

Good points, and I actually agree with them.

I think everyone would like to have that kind of money in general(though obv not to also ignore people).

Jumped out of that merry-go-round of yours in my last reply saying all there was to be said. So not reading let alone reply since experience has show your responses too often miss the mark as you miss the point: if I talk to you about apples, you'll reply to me about oranges. So am done as am not in the habit of being unpleasant, not if I can help it.

To all reading the thread: please excuse me as I have ocd and like to post....sometimes it's a compulsion.
There is no need to reply to any of my posts and I won't feel bothered too much if anyone chooses not to reply to them.
===========================================

That aside: I've considered the POV you and others share on this topic, and have agreed with some things said as well....I wish that you and others would be a bit more fair and wouldn't handwave mine off so easily with such easy dismissals like "you don't get it".

And I get it.....I LIVED it.

I pushed for many causes and issues concerning the site, company, and forums over the years.....so please be so kind as to not somewhat insult me by repeatedly saying I "don't get it".

OK look, quite a few, myself included are, aware of your OCD, but that's beside the point I'm going to make. Like it or not, yes in the matter at hand, there are things that you don't get, which am going to illustrate below.

Because you made the claim I was unfair and you felt insulted, so silly me gave you the benefit of the doubt and read your previous reply to me. I knew I was to regret it and guess what? I did and really got annoyed. Why? Because of this:

Here as indicated by your reply, no you did not get it thatI was pointing out to you that there were absolutely no staff costs nor time involved in maintaining the GogDownloader, for the simple reason there was nothing to maintain since that program had not been updated in ages. So how could there possibly be staff costs involved in maintaining it!

And then I proceeded in talking about download links, which are something else. Apples and oranges, as I said earlier in previous post.

I didn't read you any further after that, that was enough for me and enough to rest my case once and for all. And so that we're clear, you and I on this subject are well and truly done.

I know you don't want to reply and are done...please feel free to ignore this if you want:

(Also to all: I am not trying to insult or irritate anyone on purpose....and am sorry if my posts make people feel insulted, belittled, or irritate anyone here.

I also wish people who feel that way because of my posts would at least get AND respect that a bit more)
=============================================== How do you know for sure it cost nothing to keep the GOG DLer working?

I wish you or someone else would explain to me how the GOG DLer worked for new games added to the site AFTER it became depreciated (I mean 5 or so years back) without any effort(manpower, which costs money) put into it.

(I am honestly curious on the above) Over that quoted bit?

Perhaps (honest suggestion) you could try to not let things upset you so easily when you read them?

(I mean things where a person isn't trying to upset someone)

================================== (Please note I am also not trying to insult anyone with this bit...I vent with silly links like this sometimes)

I really like Complicated by Avril Lavigne, but listening to it in this context, would spoil it for me.

So just please stop burying my posts.

How about you start a music clip thread and dedicate these kind of clips to your concerns ... you can even do links to threads and posts such as mine, to give context. I won't check it out, but I am sure others will.

Could be a good outlet for you, to air your thoughts ... see it as replying from a distance ... in the age of isolation and containment.

I'm actually not trying to bury your posts....I even posted the same info you do a few times to keep it at the end of the thread.

(Also you're free to post a bump in such cases if you feel the desire or need to)

There's a thread for that already, actually...and I do use it that way on occasion.

That said, that was a one off link so there's no need to make an entire new thread for such.