I mentioned something like this in the Games Wish list, but I'm not sure if this should fall under either the Feature Wish list or the Games wish list.
Is there anything that keeps GOG from being a sort-of "freeware" aggregation system? There are a bunch of older games that have been released as freeware that publishers have forsaken but have not released the rights to, but if I knew I could find them on GOG, I'd be more inclined to browse here, even if I'm grabbing a freeware game now and coming back to buy Perimeter, for example, later.
There are some quality games that have been released that only call FilePlanet, a lone torrent, or other out of the way websites their home. The pursuit of publishing rights or if you would seek to put a price tag on them, well, that would be totally up to you, but it's certainly a possibility. Most of these older games, being released as freeware, don't have any DRM to speak of, so getting them to work on Vista / XP would be the biggest problem.
If you'd like some examples, I'd certainly present Ground Control, MechCommander 2, and Starsiege: Tribes. I still play these games every now and then; Tribes is one of the best multiplayer experiences to date, Ground Control was a fantastic RTT game (much the predecessor of the excellent "World In Conflict"), and MechCommander 2's gameplay is different then most.

Correct. The GTA games would be another good example, as well. I don't think it's necessary, or even vital to the survival of GOG, it'd just be some (more) icing on the cake. Who knows, the community may end up having a few good games of Tribes if enough people were to pick up on it.

Not sure about GTA, I believe only Rockstar is allowed to distribute those games.
All the other sites are only allowed to link to the official download site of Rockstar.

rip? arent they still around

when you buy the rockstar pack or the gta pack on steam you get gta 1 and 2 for free. and you can download them from steam software.

OK I must be wrong then.
Never actually bought something off Steam though, thus me not knowing.

Hosting such games would be pretty neat, but I wonder if it would cut a good deal into their profit. It would require a good amount of bandwidth, assuming they are downloaded pretty regularly, with no direct income from it to cover cost. Other sites using advertising in extreme amounts to help cover their cost. I know GoG gets an income from other games, but considering they are selling and hosting all this for such a minimal cost, I wonder if hosting other free game would really cut into that.
Don't get me wrong though, if a deal could be struck with other companies, it would be a great addition.

If Rockstar (or the company owning the game's rights) wants to have GTA1/2 and Full Metal on GOG, nothing keeps them from doing it.

I thought they were too. I've been to their site recently.
Still, abandonware isn't legal. There isn't any such thing. Copyrights last about 75 to 100 years.

some abandonware falls into a grey legal area, when it's a title that the company who made it doesn't exist anymore, therefore no-one to actually claim the copyright...

I dunno. These guys are already bending themselves over backwards to provide us with games remade to work with XP/Vista with the latest patches, soundtracks, manuals, links to mods that they've tested for their games, ongoing support, etc. etc. All this for games where most of them cost only $6 each... LOL, I thought that all was the free content system.
It's a neat idea, but I don't think it's fair to ask them to do it. They're trying to focus on the niche market of ancient games that are still the under the publishers' copyrights (ie. not abandonware) but are not available to get legally, except on eBay. That covers a HUGE base for games and publishers to talk to without trying to convince them to provide free games as well. Besides, if these games you want are already being provided for free by the publishers, why not just go to their site to get it instead?

to all that asked: If they are around I haven't been able to get to the site. I tried actually right before i posted; so i thought they were dead. I know the last time i went they hadn't updated in like a year.
As for the freeware idea; I think it would be cool but I'd want them to get GOG going strong before they do it. I mean it would be a neat addition.
However I'd like to see soundtracks and such up first.

Not legal, certainly, but the ethicality of archiving obscure games from long-defunct developers is valid IMHO. That's why I'm excited about GOG, as it will combine legality and ethics into one package.
As of today, it seems the site is down :-(

Maybe they could host some older freeware games updated to be ready to run under XP/Vista, along with additional materials like walkthrougs, and charge some small fees (e.g. $2.99) not for the game, as it is free, but for preparing it for modern systems, for hosting and support? Huh?