Reznov64: No agenda, I just don't like this modern era where we have created a massive digital library filled with books, music, art, movies and other forms of entertainment that we can lose access to any of those works just because a piece of paper with a contract or license on it expires.
It gets frustrating to read folk saying this. Folk that are clearly not using GOG properly.
The way DRM-Free works, is that you download your game files from GOG and backup. If you are not doing that, you aren't using GOG properly, and certainly aren't doing the DRM-Free thing.
GOG are seemingly trying to be everything to everyone, without really expressing what is truly important about DRM-Free.
GOG should be encouraging customers to download and backup, but they aren't. Instead they push the download+install process of Galaxy.
I understand why GOG does that, it makes many of their customers continually reliant on GOG, probably most of them.
But the flaw, is that GOG could at need or desire, remove games from our library.
Most sites on the web that sell digital product, only give you a limited amount of time to download it, and for some it is within 14 days.
Hell, a music site I use for FLAC files etc, Qobuz, just recently decided to do similar after not having done so for years. I guess it costs to continually host files, especially if those files are no longer available for sale on the store. Quite reasonably, they expect folk who bought the files, to have downloaded them long ago. In fact, there are a number of cloud services around, where you can if you want, upload your digital files to. Stores are about making money, and so cost cutting is a big part of that.
It is being unrealistic at best, to expect a store to keep hosting files it no longer sells.
EDIT - And in a very real way, it is likely the providers of such files, that are the cause. If the artist or publisher have decided the store can no longer sell their files, then why should the store keep them in storage. I know I wouldn't want to if I was the store.
