You're missing the point. It is "just" the act of downloading and installing, which were seen as normal things to do. However, by calling it "sideloading" they can then attach any meaning, any implication they wish. This is now something different and wierd, not something normal people do, does your mom sideload? I'm pretty sure the battle for control of your phone that you bought was lost as soon as we allowed them to call it sideloading.

[–] TotalSonic@lemmy.world 12 points 10 hours ago

I'm not missing any point at all, your post is in essential agreement with mine, lol.

[–] CanadaPlus@futurology.today 0 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago) (1 children)

The name might well have come from the community, since the whole app store model is as old as the modern smartphone, and downloading a different way ~~is new~~, while possible, was always for power users.

If there had been a more normal software ecosystem from the get-go that would have been nice. Actual regulation to enforce device freedom would also be good.

[–] Crozekiel@lemmy.zip 2 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

Being able to download and install software from somewhere that isn't the app store has been available the entire time, it is not "new". I remember downloading .apk files and installing them on my first android phone, and it just worked. It wasn't until my 3rd or 4th phone that you had to start enabling "unknown sources" to install a .apk, and they have been working to make it harder ever since.

[–] CanadaPlus@futurology.today 2 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago)

Shit, I wrote that wrong. Trying to do too many things at once.