I really miss this little and easy program. I often used it and I don't like very much the idea to use Galaxy only to download offline versions of my games. Now I'm also using Galaxy but it can not be compared to Downloader because of its heaviness on an old pc like mine.

Because three redundant threads does not a good forum make.

You see, chances are that GOG discovered some function, security hole, library discontinuation or bug so big that in order to keep it running they'd have to rewrite the whole lot. And why bother? Galaxy was made to replace it years ago and was the culmination of all their effort and progress.

If (raw) honesty was the best strategy to keep the majority of customers happy then a lot of PR representatives would be out of a job. (I'm talking about business in general)

Let's talk about this business specifically. If the majority of customers here use Galaxy already, and don't use/don't care about Downloader, how would being honest in this case be harmful at all?

I on the other hand would have taken the strong arm approach. "We have chosen to discontinue the GOG Downloader. This decision is final, and you will have X days to finish your discussions on the matter in a single thread. The issue will then be permanently closed as final."

We don't need three threads of a whining minority running amock, raising threads from the dead just to balk on some point.

What about those saying GOG isn't right on this?

So honestly asking: is that the only answer you'd accept as the truth/accept from them?

I actually started crying when I read this. Because... maybe you're right.

A company turning to shit has to be aknowledged, especially when it originally built itself on opposite values, but it's still not THAT a big deal. It's a loss and an annoyance, but still merely in the realm of available shops.

I used, naively, to buy locally unavailable books from BookDepository, because Amazon is too obviously shitty on too many levels (ecologically and socially). It was a nice way to bypass them for handy services. But Amazon eventually bought BookDepository and, well, shit. Annoying as fuck, but things change. Companies change owners and represent different things. Countries change governents and represent different things. Heck, sometimes even individuals change a lot. Don't get attached to names and identities, the content only matters.

What I mean is, it's shitty, has to be denounced, and spit goes where spit is deserved. Denial is always dangerous (and capitalized upon). But there's more important things in life than videogame shops to feel truly distressed about.

Downloader users and people who support them sure have you upset, my lord. I see you even went in the wishlist topic to "anti-vote" (nonwithstanding your "efforts" there, that wish continues getting more votes at a steady pace). Consider that maybe your annoyance is misplaced. If GOG hadn't made this unreasonable, inconvenient, anti-consumer decision, you wouldn't have to cast your eyes on multiple topics about this issue.

I'm saying that this is the reality: there are customers confused with GOG's decision who don't accept the official reasoning for it. Whether that confusion is well-founded or not, it's on GOG to try and satisfy those customers. And before you go all devil's advocate, arguing just to argue, yes, that is in the domain of the business to do. While the business and the consumer are part of the same transaction, they have different roles and abilities. Also please spare me with any argument about how "those customers are being unreasonable"...we are talking about loyal customers who have articulated their position a damn sight well better than the official staff posts on why we can't have Downloader anymore. It's not like we're talking about GOG Connect where Scheme users come to take free games, whine about ones that aren't free, then promptly leave. We are talking about long-time GOG customers, ones that are interested in staying here as their primary store and spending money here.

I would take any answer that doesn't insult my intelligence. The official staff posts were wanting.

Agreed on these bits
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The ones annoyed/mad at GOG for this should do the same as well, I think.

When searching for answers(on anything/in general) one should look for ANY answer as long as it is the truth....you and others seem to only be set on trying to search for/willing to accept specific "acceptable" answers, even if they might not be the truth.

That is likely in part why GOG doesn't want to get into this....even if they were blunt but gave an answer you/others don't want it's likely(though not 100%) you/others would reject it....so they likely decided to save themselves some time/etc and not bother.

Some in the threads(not you, but others) have acted like entitled "spoiled brats" and children about this(not many, but a few).

While I would like those acting reasonable to be heard I don't think GOG should reward that sort of behavior as shown by a few others.

5 years after discontinuation of support and this all comes as a surprise to the users?

On the other hand, GOG is exactly the sort of grognard base that threw a fit when support for Windows XP was discontinued. (A decade after the OS, no less.)

By the way, how goes that campaign?

The surprise is that the Downloader was still working completely fine so it is senseless (from the perspective of us users) to get rid of it.

For that matter, when you and others demand we all just shut up and use an alternative like GOGrepo, you somehow don't mind that those alternatives are not officially "supported".

As for your XP analogy to work (it doesn't), GOG would've had to have done something like gone through game by game that worked with XP, and somehow made them so they are all now incompatible with XP.