I just call downloading from a main spyware store “sloploading”
As an android ROM hacking and foss enthusiast, this meme is dumb as hell.
It’s not called side-loading because it’s not from the play store or whatever. it’s called side loading because the installation is not triggered from within the on-board software.
If you’re using Graphene OS and install software from F-Droid, that’s not sideloading. If you take the Play Store version of an APK and install it via ADB from your PC such that it functions just like it was installed from the store, full authorization included, that IS sideloading.
Don’t take the technical language we’ve been using for decades and reinterpret it to push some agenda in a meme.
Call the situation what it is: taking away product ownership rights.
Yes, but google calls it sideloading when I install from f-droid
no they don’t. installing f-droid is the sideload. once f-droid is installed you do not need to have allow unknown sources enabled anymore. the f-droid app is granted permission to install as a known source.
That distinction is completely valid, but I think it ultimately misses the point of the “sideloading” discussion.
I think no one would disagree that installing apps on mobile devices via ADB (Android) or Xcode (iOS) is sideloading. But if I toggle the “Allow installing from unknown sources” setting on Android and install APKs through F-droid and other means, is that sideloading? You say no, the Wikipedia article about sideloading says yes. That also circumvents security features of the OS to install software. The difference comes down to whether or not a mobile OS provides an easily accessible setting for developer tools that facilitates the installation of software from other sources to the point where it becomes possible to automate it in a store-like fashion. It’s not a hard distinction and more like a continuum of how many hoops a user has to jump through to install and maintain software from other sources.
I think it’s useful to think of the “sideloading” discussion mainly from this user-oriented perspective. The technical distinction of needing versus not needing a separate device is technically valid, but it misses the point IMO.
This is all very good to know for someone unfamiliar with the topic. Good discussion
I respect where you’re coming from but what about downloading an app from your browser and installing it separate from any app store? Do you consider that “sideloading”? If not I have bad news.
I’m not arguing over what things are and aren’t being allowed. I’m saying the meme is butchering the term sideloading and its meaning.
No, but my point is langage and meaning evolves and the process I referred to above is now commonly known as sideloading. Whether that makes sense or follows a historical precedent doesn’t matter to most people.
I’m unclear: did this term come from language evolving, or is it a corporate move like the meme says? It can’t be both.
And that’s my problem with the meme. I don’t disagree that language evolves but the meme is trying to say it was crafted with purpose by Google et al and it’s just not
did this term come from language evolving, or is it a corporate move like the meme says? It can’t be both.
Yes it can. It may not be a natural evolution but the meaning to most people has changed regardless.
The term wasn’t invented by Google but the current connotation may have been. Even if this isn’t good, we can’t expect to influence the average person’s use of the term more than an billion dollar company can.
People use the term casually and incorrectly to refer to any software not installed from the Play Store, which ultimately reinforces Play store as a sort of default which undermines the open landscape of Android in the public consciousness.
Sideloading absolutely has not been used for decades in any context relevant to the android app store conversation.
Android is 17 years old, and sideloading has been used to reference non-store apps the whole time. I remember the Moto Cliq blocking it in 2009 and rightfully causing an uproar.
So yeah, technically not yet decades plural, but one and most of another. Unless you want to be really pedantic and say that it was used in the 2000s, the 2010s, and the 2020s, which are three different decades.
The term has had a specific meaning for decades. It was coined by i-drive in the 90s. It is the same concept now as it was then, but “the i-drive platform” was replaced by “stores”
it’s called side loading because the installation is not triggered from within the on-board software
I’m a bit of a dumbfuck, but I find this extremely hard to believe. Please elaborate and prove me wrong
I mean, for etymology Wikipedia is about as good as the next source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sideloading
The term was coined in the 90s by i-drive, and roughly means “use an alternative transfer method than established norms”. If I make software that has a standard transfer method (in the case of mobile devices that’s the rule “installed apps should have a known source, e.g. a store”) and I transfer stuff from another source (an unknown source in this case), that’s a sideload.
I don’t understand how that’s different than fdroid though. And in most cases, fdroid had to be side loaded for a long time after and when it was introduced
as I said elsewhere, the installation of f-droid is sideloading but based on my understanding of the term, installations by f-droid are not because f-droid is the “known source” granted permission to install software
But the origin of F-droid is me choosing a trusted source, no different from when I choose to use a store.
No, you have to transfer the APK directly onto the device, either via download or ADB, to install f-droid. That means the OS has no concept of the source of the application (it’s just a raw APK).
Just because you personally trust the source (the website you download it from) doesn’t make it a known/trusted source from the OS’s perspective (whether that OS is Google Android, Graphene, or any other OS)
It’s a “chain of trust” issue. When you get something from a store, there are (usually) a bunch of things that happen behind the scene to make sure that the OS receives the application that is intended. Hash verification, signing certificate validation, SSL handshake with the source, etc. When you install an APK directly none of that happens.
Ah I see
Nowadays most people are only literate enough to spread misinformation
I just thought it was kinda funny. This community felt right
Being called illiterate because someone disagrees with your definition of “sideloading” is a thing you can only experience on Lemmy.
Did reddit suddenly get better?
You download a file to your computer to then sideload to your companion device. Side loading is not the applicable term in the android context (unless you download some files and you push it via Bluetooth/wlan/cable to your mp3 player)
sidedining on some homemade hamsburger and sidetalking with my friend about sideloading some music to sidelisten to on my sideshopped device so i can sidefocus on sidefinding sideployment
edit: removed normal word
Doesn’t say Linux even once?
Fake and gay
Fake: wait, this ain’t greentext
Gay: this bylemmy
Sideloading is a term made up by i-drive in the 90s to describe the process of copying a file from someone else’s i-drive to your own. How it ended up becoming the term for installing apps not from a store isn’t clear, but I’d guess it’s because you aren’t “downloading” from a store and more “sideloading” like you might music to an MP3 player (at least in the early days).
Google continuing to restrict the ability to install apps how you want is bullshit, but it’s not like the word sideloading is some nefarious propaganda made up by Big App Store. It’s just slang that evolved beyond its original meaning.
Sidewinding: using a screwdriver instead of the specific key attachment that they provide (I lost it and won’t order a new one)
Link to original fedi post: https://guild.pmdcollab.org/@StaticR/115098597647157516
Thank you. Added.
Sidedriving, when I’m 10 beers in and the bartender still gave me back my keys.
Sidedrinking: drinking something besides the verification can
For the uninitiated:
This is fantastic! Fits right in with 5th elements speech filtering (the cursing scene) or something from Brazil
That’s illegal
