What it grants you is the ability to download and install the game as you see fit with no DRM software getting in the way. You don't even have to use their launcher if you don't want.
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Technically no, it still grants you a license like any other store. In practice it's a bit closer to ownership than what you get with other stores, as GOG does not have the ability to take your games away once you have downloaded them and you can do whatever you want with the files. But you're not legally allowed to sell your copy for example.
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They allow you to make as many offline backup copies of the games' installers as you want and you don't need to use any of their services after purchase (except downloading from their site), it's as close as it gets to "digital ownership"
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It gives you the ability to download an installer you can use as needed. I don't know if that technically counts as ownership but it's better in that sense than say, steam is, which requires you to download/install through their client.
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It provides identical amounts of ownership to pirating it. Legally it's a license same as Steam.
I have all of mine backed up on a hard drive. They have nothing preventing me from using them on the last working computer at the end of the world
No it doesn't. It's just a digital use license like in any other store. Here's the relevant part from their User agreemet
We give you and other GOG users the personal right (known legally as a 'license') to use GOG services and to download, access and/or stream (depending on the content) and use GOG content
That is legally the same as any other store out there.
So why does GoG make a big fuss about that? Well, it's mostly a PR stunt, but there is some truth to it. Games sold on GoG are, majorly, DRM-free (although not 100% of them, but close to it), this means that you can backup your game installer and install it and play it in the distant future even if GoG is no more. The reason why this is mostly a PR stunt is that you can do the same with most games from other stores as well, except you backup the game folder instead of the installer, because (and this is the part I think people always miss) if a game is on Gog and any other store it's almost assuredly DRM free in ALL stores.
Don't get me wrong, GoG is great and their policy on DRM is something that I think other companies should really imitate. But it's not the be all and end all that some people make it out to be, and to me personally when I have to decide where to invest my money my choices are between a company that has a relatively decent DRM policy but doesn't care for me as a customer, and a company that has literally spent millions making my gaming experience as a Linux user better, it's a no contest. If I was on Windows I might consider buying more stuff from GoG because of their DRM policy, but being able to easily play games on Linux is more important for me than DRM.
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