Gundato: So it matters if you have to authenticate JUST ONCE when you are trying to install? :p

Gundato: Log-out of your account and go download a GoG. Don't forget to authenticate by logging in to access the download links :p

Gundato: And the differences ARE pretty obvious. "If I don't feel inconvenienced, it is DRM-free. Otherwise, it is DRM". But again, that becomes very subjective. YOUR definition of DRM and MY definition of DRM might not include GoG, but the definition itself does :p

Namur: I didn't say it matters, i said the requirement hampers your use, and as such it's DRM. It sure doesn't matter to me, BUT IT'S STILL DRM. You seem to have trouble grasping a simple concept, your views of a subject doesn't change its nature. You and me, and many others i suspect, deem a one time auth as acceptable, but that doens't change the fact that it's DRM.
Again, the only thing the login does is verify my legitimacy to acess. Once that legitimacy is established, the use is not hamperd in any way shape or form, unlike all those examples you mentioned where use is hampered AFTER my acess legitimacy was already established.
Really ? So i guess AC2 is DRM free for someone who doesn't feel incovenienced by their new DRM scheme, right ? I mean, what you're saying is that it's up for each and everyone of us to decide what is DRM and what isn't based on our own notions of incovinience alone ?

Gundato: re: AC2: Ubi seems to think so :p

Gundato: Hell, you seem to think so. You aren't hampered by GoG, it isn't DRM.

Gundato: And again, Impulse already meets your requirements. Usage is not hampered in any way, shape, or form after legitimacy is established. You never have to run the client or even know it was installed by Impulse after you establish your legitimacy. Same with GoG :p

Namur: Ah, the smilie with the tongue sticking out it's always a compelling argument, no doubt.
So i take it AC2 is DRM FREE for someone who doesn't feel incovinicied by Ubi's new scheme, right ?
No, don't start spinning. I don't see these matters in terms of my personnal opinions and incovinience alone, i see them for what they are, and unlike you when i come across a DRM scheme that i find acceptable, i accept the compromise, period. I don't start spinning and/or dismissing legitimate concerns just because i don't share those concerns in that specific instance.
I have many concerns regarding Steam. Steam it's DRM
I have no concerns regarding a one time online auth. A one time online auth it's DRM.
See ? My own personnal views and willingness to accept some schemes but not others don't change the nature of the subjects at hand.
It's not a question of 'me' not being hampered by gog, it's a fact that gog's model doesn't hamper the use of the files once acess has been granted, thus DRM FREE. This one isn't up for grabs, it's the way it works, period.
By your own admission i know you're stubborn as hell and that you rarely walk away, but i think we covered this one already., didnt't we?
You need to run a client to redownload your stuff, your words. You need to run the client to update your stuff, you conviniently forgot about this one. Use hampered, not same as GOG.
Or are you telling me that there's still acess legitimacy issues reagrding a game you already downloaded, installed and played that gets a new patch ?

Gundato: So it matters if you have to authenticate JUST ONCE when you are trying to install? :p

Gundato: Log-out of your account and go download a GoG. Don't forget to authenticate by logging in to access the download links :p

Gundato: I know, you don't need to authenticate beyond the download. But in that case, just go archive your impulse and GG games the old fashioned way (7z :p), and bam. DRM-free!

Gundato: YOUR definition of DRM and MY definition of DRM might not include GoG, but the definition itself does :p

Navagon: Given that it means the game's future entirely relies on the continued existence and functionality of Impulse and their support of the products involved in the process (including future versions of Windows), yes it matters.
No need. You can back up the installation files and don't need a client to interpret them and reinstall them.
Which seems to be overlooking the registry entries and Documents folders that most games now rely on.
Technically, GOG could offer more consumer rights through DRM, such as the right of resale. GOO theoretically allows this, but I'm not aware of it being used in practice. The fact that GOG is a DRM-free digital distribution service is not without its disadvantages.
But the fact that it's digital, there are rights involved and in some respects they're being managed, doesn't make GOG DRM. You're just twisting words.

Gundato: <snip>

Namur: And let me just summarize

Namur: "You are right, we did cover Impulse.
You changed your argument to clients, I changed the argument to "So Securom isn't?"
I didn't changed anything, stop spinning. You brought up Impulse and i told you how and why it's DRM. And you keep bringing it up although i think by now it's pretty clear to everybody how Impulse and gog are different in a FREE DRM prespective.
Then you brought up Securom, and again i told you how and why it's DRM.
"And again, you need to redownload a GoG to update a GoG. You don't magically auto-update on the very rare occasions GoG patched something. So "use hampered"."
No, you need to get acess to download the new file. Once you get acess, your use of that file is not hampered in any way shape or form. You don't have to run a client to get the new file or go through any other hoops. SO, USE NOT HAMPERED.
"And let me just summarize this simply: "A one time online auth it's DRM. " You yourself said that. I quoted it again for emphasis. What do you call logging into your account to download a game on GoG? Are you online? Are you authenticating (in the sense that you are saying that you are you by matching a password to an email)?"
Professionals call that... a Login. I do to. It's meant to provide or deny acess to shit.
A login to get acess is different than an auth check for use when i was already given acess. Is this really that hard to understand ?
"Does it happen one or more times per game?"
No, it doens't happen at all per game. Again, acess and use are two very different things.
"Bam, GoG is DRM. And thus, the world is free to once more define DRM however the hell they want to"
BAM, i alreday told you silly, gog is not DRM in any way shape or form, no matter how hard you try to spin it.
"Because, at the end of the day, DRM is largely a buzz word"
No it's not. DRM free is what gog does.
"Seriously though. By your own system, you think DRM is all about "hampering" people. So if we go by that metric (which is actually what most people seem to go by), Ubi-DRM can indeed be counted as "not DRM" by crazy people :p. Not the majority (and what is "truth" but what the majority believes?), but that is the problem when you start basing things off user-experience."
DRM is not about hampering people, one of its consequences it's hampering use. If DRM, in wichever form, turns out to be a major incovinience or not for people it's irrelevant.
An it's by your own metric, not mine, that ubi's DRM could ever be perceived as DRM FREE.
After all, according to you DRM is where each and everyone of us decides to draw the line, right ?

Gundato: <snip>

Stuff: Once again, I am forced to give you a +1 for effort . . . ; )

Namur: "Wow dude, calm down"
Whaaa...?
Again, you said that Impulse is DRM because it has a client. So if the requirement for being DRM-free is not "one activation only" and is instead "No client", then Securom (in some flavors) would count as DRM-free.
No, it's not instead. DRM comes in many shapes and forms. Some schemes have more than one aspect to it, but it only takes one aspect to make it DRM. If it has a mandatory client, it's DRM, even if doesn't have anything else beyond the client. If it has a one time online check it's DRM, even if it it doesn't have anything beyond the one time check. It doens't have to have both to be DRM.
And let's imagine for a moment that GoG releases an update to Psychonauts. How are you going to get the new installer (with the patch)? I'll give you a hint: it involves going to the GoG website :p. Unless GoG made a magic updater that nobody told me about
I log in to the site, i'm given acess to my file and i download the file, with no strings attached. Again, the login just gives you acess, has nothing to do with use afterwards.
Seriously though. When were you given access to your GoG? When you logged into the website and clicked a download link
When were you given access to your Impulse game? When you logged into the client and clicked a download link.
The fact that the client is mandatory in some instances is the difference. A pretty big one from a DRM Free prespective. It's not about how tame you think it is, it's about what is is and what it does.
And the rest of your points are just arguing semantics: You basically seem to feel that logging-in to access the games associated with your account on a website is different from logging-in to a client to access the games associated with your accounts.
No it's not semantics, and yes it's different. If i'm forced to use the client for whatever reason, i can't see how anyone can miss the difference.
But I will agree, GoG is "DRM Free". It just isn't without DRM. You know, buzz words and marketing :p
No, GOG it's without DRM all right, it's just that you can't tell the difference between a login and DRM.

Gundato: Okay, Impulse isn't DRM then. I mean, the login procedure and the like only focus on legitimate access (I learned that you can't download games when Impulse is down :p).After you are given access, you never need to run Impulse again. Admittedly, you have to re-run it every time you re-download stuff, but you have to log-in to GoG every time you redownload stuff. So if GoG doesn't count as DRM, neither does Impulse.

Orryyrro: So long as you can't re-sell the games, it is DRM, such is the standard EULA, as it restricts the first sale doctrine, as such, it manages your rights.

Navagon: There may be digital rights that you do and don't have. But that doesn't make it DRM. There's nothing invasive or obstructive in the games. Technically you could illegally sell copies of the games you bought on GOG, have them installed on multiple machines, etc. With DRM (depending on the specifics) that's not the case.
I'm not saying that GOG isn't restricting certain rights that you could expect from a retail copy. But that's not achieved through DRM but rather copyright law.