this post was submitted on 13 Feb 2025
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"Sideloading" isn't an actual thing. It's a word the industry made up to make installing your own software sound dangerous.
All traditional Windows applications were "sideloaded" and back then it was just fucking called installing an application.
Prior to the bullshit ass Microsoft Store, sideloading was literally the only way to get shit on Windows.
Linux also always allowed you to install applications directly. Everyone just uses package management software at this point because it's all well managed and easier to keep things updated, but you can still install things manually with make.
If this leads more people to understand that "sideloading" is some contrived boogeyman bullshit for just being allowed to install what you want on the device you fucking own that's a good thing.
I also felt like the author of the article ignorantly weaponized the name to make something completely mundane sound like a bad thing. They totally stomped right into the corporate moustrap while doing so. Why not call all app stores something like "corporate single source installation" or "[Microsoft/google/apple] assisted installation"? Maybe someone will write an article on the dangers of that.
Also, I don't give a shit about TikTok. I just don't like the fact that everything is capitalized on to make the world a shittier place so someone can collect a few extra gold coins.
As a traditional Mac user I also “side loaded” applications
As a recent modern Mac user, this experience is so bizarre and is always a little different.
I grew up on macs (thanks mom) and built a PC as soon as I had my first real job in highschool. I recently bought a MacBook for the promise of battery life and cool running. If only it was easier to get my arm windows laptop to boot Linux...
Back in the 80s and 90s it was a lot like installing software on Windows except you’d drag the application to where you wanted it instead of doing
a:\setup.exeSideloading doesn't sound dangerous, if anything it sounds cool lol
It sounds cool because it sounds dangerous
Hell yeah. Lemme put on my hacker glasses and sideload some shit.
I guess you've convinced me to sideload and smoke cigarettes.
I'm going to be so fucking cool.
You only need make if you're compiling. Installating precompiled software is somewhat easier, since it's basically just copying to /bin. If you know where that is, then it's simple.
make install typically also handles copying things like libraries, shared assets, and docs as needed, but yeah precompiled software is usually a tar... or loading a downloaded package file into the package manager.
There's even .deb, .rpm, flakes, whatever pacman uses, … that are just package files that copy to /bin/ for you, like .apk/.ipas.
[citation needed]
Yeah, I mean that made sense when it was the only way. There was no need to differentiate. That's not the case anymore.
The term "sideloading" has been around since the 90s. Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sideloading
Sounds like it was something very different back then...
ulrich!
now you are lars ulrich. How many ulrichs can you be?
Oh merde! You caught me!
Whew...
Lotta words for a semantics quibble that amounts to a distinction without a difference... 🤷♂️