ruthan666: How so if even Microsoft stopped supporting XP over a year ago? they did hand out FREE versions of Windows 10.... This stop support is newspeak.. its already paid, its not mechanical.. it should work for infinite time.. i dont want new features from MS..
Maighstir: To stop support is not the same as stop from working. Microsoft have stopped supporting Windows XP, but the operating system works about as well as it ever did with the features it had back then (even the Windows/Microsoft Update web site is still up and running, I updated a Windows XP machine just a few weeks ago). Trouble is, developers have started using new nifty features in their software that Windows XP never had.
You can keep using Windows XP (or Windows 98, Windows 3.1, Macintosh System 6, Amiga Workbench 3, PC-DOS 3) for as long as you'd like, but you can't expect developers to keep building for it when it costs them more than it's worth. There will be a cut-off point somewhere, which is up to each developer, and GOG has -since a while ago- decided that it's time to no longer put time and money into getting Galaxy working under Windows XP.
The versions of Galaxy that were built for XP, most likely still work there. Of course, they probably have a self-updater that tries to get a new version, and it may be the case that the server refuses to reply to too old versions of the software.
At the moment the major top OS usage rankers are:
Windows 7
Windows 10
Windows XP
There's a complete difference between XP vs 98, 3.1, Mac OS 6, Amiga OS, and IBM PC-DOS 3.0.
One major difference is XP 32-Bit is probably the most supported Windows OS ever created. This includes hardware and driver support beyond any Windows OS in existence. Second GOG has a ton of older games on it that run perfectly fine on XP. GOG Galaxy itself is just an interface to connect between the users for multiplayer being its advantage. Otherwise it's pointless to even have GOG Galaxy as the web browser can easily be used to download files manually without some OS requirement. Maybe GOG Galaxy could be only Web browser based and GOG Galaxy is just a standalone program to transmit game data only for multiplayer so less overhead and can be rather basic and run as a background process with just a simple account login and password screen which can be checkboxed to automatically sign in. Then all the user has to do is just use any browser such as Firefox, Chrome, or IE, to find game rooms to join, chat, and play with other GOG Galaxy users. Doesn't anyone remember MSN Zone? It's a simple website where you find a game room and join and the people click ready and the game launches. What was so hard about that?
The fact that XP can understand multicore vs 98 and older Operating Systems gives it that extra longevity even today. This why it's possible to run XP on Coffee Lake and why it runs blazingly fast on today's processors.
There are really only two Operating Systems to support for GOG Galaxy or future games.
XP 32-Bit
Vista 64-Bit
Both OSes cover the most supported 32-Bit OS, and Vista 64-Bit will cover Windows 7, 8, 8.1, and 10 compatibility.
GOG Galaxy isn't some advanced game or require anything fancy or huge requirements. In fact I bet if they released the source code any 3rd party could produce a better GOG Galaxy for XP 32-Bit than themselves so that would increase the player pool. If they weren't trying to include all this other stuff into GOG Galaxy to emulate a browser it wouldn't be so complicated. People aren't morons. They can easily manually download installers, patches, or use their own browser of choice. GOG Galaxy could have been simplified, more compact login interface to transfer gaming data between players, and supported XP 32-Bit and Vista 64-Bit and they are done. If they did away with the built in browser they could focus on the actual network game client. If I remember correctly they are using Google Chrome or Chromium. So it could be their excuse is because Chrome stopped being supported on XP they were unable to maintain support.
However there is actually a fork of Chrome working on XP today.
http://browser.taokaizen.com/
I feel that GOG should eliminate the built in browser code if this is causing them to stop supporting XP. Any gaming client for multiplayer could be simplified and written for XP 32-Bit and Vista 64-Bit and they got 95% of all Windows support covered. I don't see why is it so hard to just transmit the gaming data only. I don't care about the store being embedded. I prefer using my own browser that I have cached to a Ramdrive when purchasing on GOG.
Now if we are discussing 98 and older OS that would be nonsensical for GOG Galaxy to support and I would agree there. Most hardware of that era is harder to support lacking the right drivers. Today you can still find XP compatible hardware and drivers off Amazon or eBay and will work on today's 2017 Coffee Lake.
What would make GOG Galaxy catch on quick is if it also had IPX emulation similar to Kali. Then you could play older DOS games with other GOG Galaxy users. Even one day if they had MAME network support that would draw a lot of new users. GOG could sell Arcade Roms and those would run perfectly fine on XP. Tons of traffic. I would love to play some Arcade Roms via network play on GOG Galaxy on XP 32-Bit. The original 4 Player classic Arcade Gauntlet or Mortal Kombat ][ would be fun to play on GOG Galaxy.
Just because some fancy game requires 4GB+ Ram and a 8GB video card doesn't mean it's great and requires Windows 10 and DX 12.0 to play it. If I wanted a DRM infected Steam client I would go there instead.
GOG should remember its roots and most people buy things that they recall in the past for nostalgia. There's no need to eliminate XP 32-Bit from support. Again if they had to support two operating systems it should be XP 32-Bit and Vista 64-Bit to keep support simplistic. 95% of all games probably will also work fine on a later Windows OS than these two by default. I fail to see the need to waste resources on Linux support. There is stuff like Wine and ReactOS that probably does the Windows emulation just fine.
