Fair, it’s not a new term. I was born in the 80’ies, I’m familiar with the concept.
However, it’s now being used with new bullshit meaning (i.e. going outside the Google/Apple app and their own offered selection), and media are normalizing this use.
Comment on Android won't kill sideloading after all, but new verification rules will make it harder
JohnEdwa@sopuli.xyz 2 weeks agoIt’s not a “bullshit new term”, it’s three decades old and means transferring files locally from one device to another, instead of directly downloading or uploading from/to an external server.
The most common sideloading people did was downloading music to their PC using services like iTunes, and transferring them to their mp3 players. As they did often with early PDA and smartphone apps, where the term for Android comes from - get the .app on your computer, transfer it to your phone, and install it.
Sideloading.
wide_eyed_stupid@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
vrighter@discuss.tchncs.de 2 weeks ago
so you’re saying it is the wrong word, because most apks are downloaded from the internet on-device. That is not a local transfer
JohnEdwa@sopuli.xyz 2 weeks ago
It is still the same installation method, directly installing the .apk file, from way back when the term for Android usage was defined.
So, kinda?Android doesn’t use ROMs any more either, because the filesystems are now writable. But Lineage etc are still called custom ROMs, because the process hasn’t changed.
lritter@mastodon.gamedev.place 2 weeks ago
@JohnEdwa @wide_eyed_stupid indeed. but it takes only a single incendiarily indignant but factually wrong mastodon post to force anyone left who's still reading wikipedia to clarify forever.
lritter@mastodon.gamedev.place 2 weeks ago
@JohnEdwa @wide_eyed_stupid the correct take would be "i should be free to sideload software to my devices in any way i please".
HK65@sopuli.xyz 2 weeks ago
Okay, but Google uses it in a way where directly going to the server they host F-Droid.apk, downloading and installing it counts as sideloading.
If anything, using Google Play is sideloading by that definition, since I can’t just download a release from the originators’ server, they need to first transfer it into a secondary location, Google’s servers, and I can only install it from there.