The rival, Epic Games is on the Windows 11 Store and I think GOG needs to put the their .exe on the store so people can download it. Downloading .exe's from websites are long-gone now with Windows 11.

Image of the store-front, see attached.

I don't exactly know how to phrase the insanity of what's wrong with your thinking.

Huh? It's pointless since they can just get it from this website. Exes aren't gone at all, what does an OS have to do with getting stuff from the internet?

False information.
And how can you say "long-gone" for an OS that was just released...

Even Android doesn't have a store lock-in.

...the whole point of GOG.

Well said

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Hmm, this topic and the other one(with another "new user" asking for Epic store achievements on galaxy)....methinks something shilly is afoot here.

Well, this new user was minted in 2013 and has 42 games, apparently. Only 1hr54 of play (in Gwent) time-tracked in Galaxy, though, so either has disabled that feature or isn't actually using Galaxy much.

While putting the launcher on the Windows Store as an option isn't in itself the worst idea I've ever heard, you killed it with the statement "Downloading .exe's from websites are long-gone now with Windows 11".

This is demonstrably false and incorrect information about Windows 11.

The days of downloading .exe's are long-gone? Looooooooool...

From a purely practical standpoint, putting Galaxy on the Windows 11 Store is probably not a horrible idea simply because it could lead to better visibility for GOG overall. (e.g. It maybe appear in the recommended search results when someone searches the store for another game launcher or for a keyword like "games" or similar.) But it's not a feature that I would use because...I'd rather download installers and/or Galaxy directly.

Also, I don't know what Microsoft's plans are for this revamped Windows 11 Store, but if their goal is to make Windows a walled garden, then that's where I stop using Windows. Of course, that's probably unlikely given Microsoft's history, but they haven't exactly had a stellar track record when it comes to making good decisions.

Who cares about the windows store? I certainly don't. But the more main applications that get pushed to use UWP it wouldn't be too long before they activate a patch where only signed exe files can be executed which would throw out anything NOT microsoft or NOT on the store.

But i think such a move wouldn't work well. Personally i suggest sticking with 7 or linux myself. Why? exe is just a execution format. My favorite apps are all manually downloaded exe files. optipng, jpegoptim, 7zip, virtualdub, cygwin, GNU/GCC and programming tools, notepad++, MPC, VLC, RAD video tools, imdisk, weeny pdf converter, etc.

And then there's the manual scripts which *GASP* have to be typed out and not just downloaded and double-clicking on! You really should try the SheBang #! which can make any text file that a program accepts becomes an executable. But they can make it impossible to sideload applications unless you get 1-2 key apps from the play store... Depends on what the android shipped with.

Chromebook however seems to be fairly univerally easy to get admin access and side-load an entire OS or switch the OS entirely, though some cases aren't as easy as they should be.

edit: OH NO THERE'S TOO MANY EXE'S AAAHHHH

I mean... it wouldn't really help anyone much.

Only reason why GoG would do that is to try to get the "app" promoted in front of some people maybe increasing users and then a few sales. But then it is likely that part of the sale would go to MS, so this would probably never happen and shouldn't.

Good point. I have no idea what the monetization for the new Windows 11 Store looks like. May not be worth it.