I'm not intending this comment to sound like argument, just spinning off from some of what you say.

The money already blown on this thing is unfortunately a sunk cost. However, abandoning it at least serves to stop money continuing to be spent on its support, advertising, etc. I don't know that many folks were boycotting specifically for that reason but for those of us with a more cumulative set of reasons why we're boycotting, it could certainly be a factor. Not trying to get too far afield here myself, though.

I don't see any reason why they had to remove the Downloader in the first place. The program worked even if not officially supported after a certain point. It seems to me that when it was removed, it was like someone on GOG's end flipped a switch so we could no longer use what was working fine.

I am assuming there is some reason why they "had" to remove Downloader that is Galaxy-related, even if as simple as them hoping to gain a few more Galaxy users as a result of people wanting a download manager and now no longer being able to use the GOG Downloader.

My ideal solution is of course complete expulsion of Galaxy from the store but I know that's not going to happen, lol. Something I have suggested is that GOG should treat Galaxy the way they used to treat Downloader...make it so it is not officially supported, users are on their own, but it exists for those who want to continue to use it.

It is a social experiment. CD Projekt wants an answer to the following question.

How many people will whine about Galaxy in the GOG forum?


And there was already a thread by the OP about Galaxy.

https://www.gog.com/forum/general/whats_the_point_of_gog_galaxy_20_should_gog_remove_it/page1

Well, Galaxy is officially not supported for Win7 anyway. =]
As are most modern games. https://www.gog.com/forum/general/does_it_run_on_win_7_thread

I will switch to linux.
2x I have installed 2x distros on 2x laptops. Neither were really gaming laptops. The games on the last install were Descent and Loderunner. I remember it took some effort to get them working because of some library issues, but I managed to get them to run and from what I understand - playing games on Linux is now easier.

It's not so much what keeps me using Windows, but what migrating to a different OS entails:

1.) Fear of data loss whilst migrating.
Files that I consider important I have already made a backup of. But there's still that fear that there might be some folder I have overlooked. One option would be to copy the entire hard drive. I'm not fond of trusting anything to ''the cloud''
But copying the files ''I need'' would be interesting. I have a mental image where on the desktop I must click and which sub-folder to open in order to listen to a certain song or open a certain *.pdf. Having the entire system as 1 directory? Fun. Then again - if I have trouble finding a certain file - it probably wasn't that important to begin with.
And there's the risk of some corruption whilst migrating.

2.) Current version of games.
You probably noticed that Saints Row IV, was replaced with an ''upgraded'' version with different system requirements a few months ago? With the original not being available anymore.

Whelp - in that vein - if the data migration does not work, I have no choice but to install a version I don't want.
Replacing one game with another is an extreme example, but there are also patches that introduce bugs or brake compatibility and you simply don't want to apply. Case in point - Surviving Mars. All the latest reviews are about how the latest patches broke the game.

In theory Galaxy allows you to rollback to a previous version.
In practice... most games do not have that option. (Here's a big shout out and a thank you to the games that do!!!)

Now try to guess whether I have the original Saints Row IV & Surviving Mars installed on this system. =)

3.) Lots of work.
All of this - making a backup. Maybe checking if a backup works. Finding a new distro. Installing a new distro. Maybe shopping for new hardware whilst I'm at it. (This system is 9 years old. The HDD actually 12 years old.)
For what? It runs just fine.*

''But the evil нахер will steal your critical info!'' It has been repeatedly stated that even an outdated Win7, properly configured, is just as secure, if not more so, than the default Win10.

Besides. I mainly use this system for gaming anyway.
Might be part of a botnet though. :<

---
*Actually it doesn't. But if I go into detail this post will become even more large than it already is... let's just say that Unity engine games keep crashing my system. Yaay for 7min reboots for games with 700mhz sys req's! \o/

Galaxies are essential for sustainable life, this one just happens to be owned by GoG...

You don't know that, You never tried to run Life without a Galaxy.
Have you considered to use a offline big bang?

In my opinion, it would be better to abandon the integration with other platforms and operate exclusively on a gog-only launcher that has all those social options that users love so much as well as improve the system of statistics, achievements, offline play and communication with friends. .

Yeah, the other platform integration is pretty pointless as you still need to log into those platforms to play the game.
I'd rather they drop that feature and focus on having community features like what Steam has.

I'll never understand the point of the social interactions myself. I don't use them... Hell, I don't really do much with Galaxy other than download my installers. I too wish they'd scale back the fluff and focus on GOG-related functionality instead of trying to be "We're Steam, but...."

Same. That whole community thing on Steam is one of the most annoying aspects.
There are better platforms to communicate with friends. When I play games, I do just that.

I did try the community stuff, adding (real) friends to the friendslist, but ... meh.
You start a private session with friends, then you got the friends of friends of friends joining, because no one wants to say no to his personal friends circle that does not necessarily overlap with yours and from one moment to the other it's like a public match.

Galaxy does not have a gender.

Gee, so someone made a gramma mistake (or was a victim of auto correct). That's what left the biggest impression on you in this thread?

I would use Galaxy more if I could somehow integrate it with Legendary, but the plugins for it just don't really work. Otherwise I use it for downloading GOG installers and tracking time (just played less than an hour of Alwa's Awakening through it).

(BTW play Alwa's Awakening)

IMO, it really doesn't have much of a point. I use backup installers, and they work just fine. If GOG wanted to make backup installer management easier in Galaxy then I would feel like it's less pointless, but in its current form I don't really feel the need to use it. And with the Galaxy-based DRM integration for Cyberpunk and Witcher 3, I see Galaxy as a massive liability in terms of GOG's DRM-free future. So I actively avoid it.

The underlying problem is that GOG got to the multi-launcher party rather late, and 3rd parties have already surpassed Galaxy in multi-platform support. The only thing that GOG originally advertised which would have given them an advantage over the others is their promise for native integration of chat, etc. for all of your accounts, but that never happened. (Thanks to a lack of cooperation from other stores?)

The only way I see Galaxy having a future is if they open-source it. There are at least 3 competitors out there that are open-source, and Galaxy won't ever be able to compete without doing that. From there, I would like to see it have a better interface for managing offline installers by showing what backup installer files and extras have already been downloaded, verifying checksums for downloaded files, showing what updates are available, and offering the ability to download specific legacy versions of games. Also, development of a Linux version and addition of Steam Deck support would be a major plus. If you could just download Galaxy onto a Steam Deck and start playing, then that would be a major advantage of Galaxy.

I guess one point of Galaxy would be to make it easier to return games since that's the only way Gog can know how long you've played.

If Galaxy and tracking were enforced, yes. But both are not.

I disabled time tracking. And if they remove that option, there will be no more Galaxy for me.