It was like that for a long time. Pain in ass for those on capped plans (or limited access) :/
Did exactly the same thing for me and it got annoying. I dont mind if there is an option....

Personally, I think you both have a point. It all comes down to weighing 'ease of use' as opposed to control over your games library and risk assessment.

I can fully understand the wish to keep in control. I like to know what happens on my computer, when, and why. Additionally, having to restart a game I have invested countless hours in is a major PITA and usually means I won't be playing that game in the near future.
However, since I'm essentially lazy and I have a large library of games, I still prefer an auto updater, EVEN if that means I run the risk of having to restart due to broken saved games.
This is indeed based on my personal experience (and of course this is different for everyone; we don't all play the same games and we don't all have the same computers) that, in all my gaming years, I've only experienced broken saves twice; if I weigh that against all the updates I would have had to do manually, I'll gladly take the risk (as I said, that's just me though; I'm lazy :).
If I had had more broken saves in the past, I guess my preference would shift to manual updates too...

So basically, I'm happy the client will provide the auto-updater feature; I'm also happy that it's optional in case my preferences shift in the future.

The choice I have for internet is Dial-up or Capped Satellite with a 10 GB monthly cap with an unmetered time from 12 midnight, 0:00 to 5 in the morning. & GOG Downloader is the only downloader I've tried that allowed me to pause & resume without trying to start over. there are games here that I have wishlisted that would kill my connection without the GOG Downloader

Something I think I need to say on the matter of "vibes" would be the following.
I DO understand and agree with people that clients bring DRM with them (at least in history of digital game sales up to today).
However, we need to be fair and look at who exactly has introduced clients up to now and come to the conclusion that NONE of those stores EVER aimed to be DRM-free to BEGIN with (yes Desura initially was also DRM-full, and only moved away some steps from it later one). Steam, Origin, Uplay - all those companies were always putting their "comes with DRM" sign upfront. Thus GOG case is entirely different as they come from a different stance/end of the line.
Yes, GOG does make mistakes, but seeing how they still try to fix them I'm overall rather optimistic on the matter. I think mistakes ARE possible on the way, but I also think they CAN be mended (at least as long as it comes to the most essential thing - absence of any DRM whatsoever and keeping the client fully optional).

Welcome to the internet, the place where people will complain just for the sake of complaining.

I'll get good vibes from Galaxy when it takes Steam out to the back 40 and beats the ever lovin'dog shit out of it.

When Steam is left broken and bloody on a pile of ashes and bone, that's when I'll raise the sword of victory into the air and claim GOG sovereign lord of the digital wastelands empire.

When you say recent do you mean the past two years because it's been there during that time.

You mean - like the Desura client did?

So this will work with all current GOG games then? Really confusing because you made it sound like it doesn't. Looking forward to it though regardless.

This is what I really wanted then... THANK YOU. Can't tell you how annoying and slow I really find all my GOG shortcuts when there sitting in a folder labeled games on my desktop. Lol

Jumping topics a bit, could you elaborate on whether it would be possible/feasible to make Galaxy's matchmaking work with DosBox/ScummVM etc. to utilize that functionality in classic games? We know "games need to support the service", but would it be theoretically possible to incorporate that into the emulation software used for them?

If it's not in your scope/plans, but is technically possible, would you consider releasing the client as open source, or at least documenting the APIs to enable the community to have a go at it? Thanks.

Some people are way too complicated.. really what are you running games on these days a 186? Worried about a program using 50 mb of 4000-8000 of ram? I don't get it, it's DRM free and it's optional what else do you want?

I'll assume, in addition to the current downloader getting replaced, the website itself may get a bit of a re-design to integrate better with Galaxy?

On that note, I haven't been able to organize my library manually for a while now, and support can't help as of yet :(

Hopefully a site re-design would fix that.

I'm actually excited for this. Sure, could be bad but since it's completly optional it can't be THAT bad. Also, get your pitchforks ready, I like achievments and the idea of GoG games with achievments is an idea I enjoy.