That shouldn't happen. So you you should probably bring that to GG's attention ASAP.

Like I said, they get new users which ultimately gets them more money. Advertising can be way more important than literal sales of a game.

Sure, GOG could have kept their installers exclusive, but then GamersGate or the publisher simply uploads a self fixed version and nobody hears about GOG. Worse, they might uplod it as is, making for a broken product which could very well cause people to become wary about buying older games (Gothic on Steam convinced me to never buy a DD older game until I found out about GOG, for example). This way, every single person who downloads an older game on GamersGate from their childhood sees that there's a better site for it, and will likely visit in the future. It's a very smart form of free advertising.

The thing is... if the other developers start doing this as well, GOG will not be the best place to get them... because the older games will work just fine on the other digital distributors website, for the simple reason that they'll be the same one as on GOG. And people tend to stick with what they are comfortable with. (that's still ignoring the higher sales on other sites)

I do realize advertising is and can be very important, but this isn't just advertising. It takes away one of GOG's main advantages. The guarantee that the game works well (or as well as it can) on newer OS's.

After that thread, I sent an e-mail to GOG asking about it, but they have never replied. They probably knew about it.

I buy from both GG and GoG. Older games from GoG and newer games from GG. However, there has been times I've bought something newer from GoG like Legend of Grimrock, to help support GoG and the developer. I weigh it out something like this:

1) Old game needs proper testing and configuring with DOSBox (if applicable) on newer machines. GoG is the primary choice to buy those games.

2) I earn Blue Coins from GG and will buy most newer games from them.

3) GoG is maintained by a much smaller company of game lovers who has the best online customer service I have ever seen than GG who is a bigger company, so I will buy some of the newer games from GoG to show my support.

The point of the thread is more that GOG's 'proper tested and configured' games are being distributed to other retailers. Which negates that benefit.

Also, GOG's CS is considered one of it's weak parts still from what I read on some support threads lately. (haven't needed it yet,. which is always a good thing)

The issue with CS comes mainly from the smaller amount of workers in GOG... so far I've seen only happy people from support

But the diff is that Valve is a lot bigger company than GOG. And it takes a really long time there. So far the only issue I've seen here that takes time is the Witcher 2/Botanicula....
And Valve don't work on weekends too... at least their support don't work ;)
Don't get me wrong... Support here is not perfect but at least they are trying and the response from the team so far is amazing.

Where did you get that impression? It's the other way around. Valve doesn't but the support does work the weekends.

From trying :) They don't work on the weekend ;) Or they have too much issues to take a question 5 days from friday through wednesday morning :)

Isn't this a bad move from a trademark perspective. If a GOG installer is available from a number of places then does it becomes a generic term for an old game installer?

As long as no bluetext says otherwise, I'm assuming that GOG does get their fair share out of the deal that enables publishers to sell GOGified games at other shops. That said, GOG has the advantage that it celebrates every game it distributes, and adds extras to it. GOG also has more personal community (GamersGate has the game Tutor, which works well, but is limited in scope). And last (but not least), buying a game at a dedicatedly DRM-free store like GOG makes a better statement towards the industry than buying at a shop that mixes DRM-free with DRM'ed games (though the latter is still way better than, say, Steam or Origin). Gamersgate's advantage is that they often have better sales, and a larger selection of games in general, they also have a very attractive reward system going on.

Sounds like a common misperception then. You already know they take a long time to respond. Just because you don't get a response in the weekend doesn't mean they don't work then.

It's been confirmed already that they do.

It's a Good Old Game installer, ergo, a GOG installer. But, no, I doubt it. An installer without the GOG branding is not a GOG installer, even if it installs an old game and/or is based on InnoSetup (also, GOG installers are used for newer games too).