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”
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”