And there's the flaw in the argument right there. It isn't legal. It is, in fact illegal. They are complaining that because of GOG starting to sell these games legally, dirt cheap, with awesome support and extras, their old illegal, unsupported, unpatched, no-extras downloads have been removed.
So no, they don't have a point.

Freespace 2 had some sort of free release didn't it? I think it was the source code, would that be GPL?

Similar to the Doom and Quake games? Open-source engine, non-free game data?

Exactly. The game engine is released as freeware, but the game data isn't. Lots of old games have had that treatment, and many people confuse that with the game itself being freeware, which isn't the case.

That is a weak argument in regards whether wanting to pay or not. Although I like to see original contributors get the cash for all sales, it is pretty hard at best to get a contract that stipulates that correctly.
First of all, many games are basically paid for by bigger publishing houses and they contract that out to developers. Granted, maybe not as prevalent for the times most of these gog games were made, but there's bound to be some of those deals around that time. Sure, the devs made the game, but they wouldnt have had the chance to make it without the publishers money to fund them.
Disregarding publishers and just focusing on the game developers. Who should really own the right and get money for sales? The studio, the team that worked on it, just the game designers? What makes it more right ( or wrong ) that the studio keeps royalties whilst those who worked on it may now have left elsewhere. What makes it more right ( or wrong ) that an individual can just leave a company and claim all royalties with him when it was the studio that gave him the opportunity to make such a game?
What if the game studio/developer is out of business?
I guess it depends where your support falls the most. Im quite happy to see when game studios do get the fame and money that they get to keep most of the profits, but again its not such a black and white picture in the real world and using that as an excuse to not pay for anything is poor. I'd much rather understand ( although not necessarily agree all the time ) an excuse like "they're overcharging such an old game by insane amounts" or "no one actually sells this game I want".
Im sure that those who want services like gog to flourish will support it and those who dont will most likely keep digging elsewhere to get their hands on it :)

AMEN Brother!
On RPGCODEX, there is one megaidiot - metalcraze/skyway - he is one of the worse idiots I have ever seen on the net, so..just ignore him.

Metalcraze is rather entertaining in a way. With his constantly misanthropic output to almost everything in sight. Whether he is pissed off, bluntly apathetic or simply a troll is hard to say, but I still get some entertainment from reading his posts. It's not exactly what is written, but the persistence in the way it is written, that to me, make it seem like an overly elaborate joke.

...sigh...

I love his neo Nazi references and his racist remarks about everything he hates. I wonder if he's played Ethnic Cleansing?

Surely if the rights are now held by another entity, that's because they
(a) had a deal with the existing developers,
(b) funded, supported the game
(c) bought the rights from the company.
So in some way money or support has gone to the original developers.
Even if the original studio went bankrupt, and then the rights were picked up by another company, that money went to pay off the debts of the studio.
If i make a product at my company, and (a) i change jobs, or (b) my company sells the rights to the product to another company, I don't expect to get paid for all sales of that product.
Some devs (like some actors or developers) might have special deals where they get paid royalties, but most people who MAKE the game just get paid a fixed salary for the work they do. So even buying, for example MIrror's Edge, isn't directly putting money into the pockets of the guy who programmed it's AI. It might help keep the studio around longer, so he might have a job for longer.... but i doubt he gets money per sale.

+1000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001

damn, you're going to be clicking that little plus button on my post for a LONG time...
On the upside my pointless number will end up being bigger than ralacks & weclocks so yeah, go for it!

Metalcraze, formerly known as Skyway, is one of the more ... infamous legends of the RPGCodex community. I know this since I've been stalking it for a good while. He generally gets agitated about, well, mostly everything.

Yes, I know. I've been around those parts quite a lot lately myself actually. The thing is, at work, there's usually very little to (while other times it's quite the opposite), so in order to counteract what I would call literal mind numbing boredom, I've taken up lurking on various forums just for shits and giggles.