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Android/Linux Dual Boot

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Re: Android/Linux Dual Boot

#91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with the ethos but "banning installing" wouldn't have been correct here. There should be terminology for installing from the source of your choice which doesn't carry the marginal or sinister connotations of "sideloading" though. "Freeloading" would have been a good one but... yeah

Wouldn't it be accurate to say that you can no longer install apps on your phone, only Google can?

If we're being pedantic, the user still has to perform the final action before the install begins. I think it' more "Google has to allow you to install apps on your phone"

Re: Android/Linux Dual Boot

#92
post #82
post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like hacking, sideloading is now a loaded & misunderstood term. It is considered as something only nerds or bad actors do. Let's just call it alternate install.

It's bypassing the usual channel for app installations, so the term is technically fitting and the loaded meaning is also appropriate since it's mostly used by nerds (maybe too strong a word) and bad actors. There are legitimate uses of sideloading for regular users, for example if you have solar panels that work with a Huawei app, they can't put it on the Play store because of US sanctions. But that's not Google's f…

>and that does mean the app is more risky since it's not monitored by Google.

This implies the play store isn't hosting tonnes of malware right now

Re: Android/Linux Dual Boot

#93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wouldn't it be accurate to say that you can no longer install apps on your phone, only Google can?

If we're being pedantic, the user still has to perform the final action before the install begins. I think it' more "Google has to allow you to install apps on your phone"

And they've never allowed the users to uninstall certain apps.

(interestingly the keyboard app is not among these, so my sister has uninstalled it by mistake once)

Re: Android/Linux Dual Boot

#94
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well the idea would be to run Android apps on the hard fork :-).

If you can run Android apps then you need the same behavior as AOSP or I'm missing something? If you don't rebase from AOSP, the apps won't run pretty quickly.

I actually wonder: if Google stopped pushing to AOSP and "the community" had to fork... the whole Android SDK/NDK is not open source, so I wonder if AOSP could survive at all without Google, even though it is open source.

Re: Android/Linux Dual Boot

#95
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> sideloading It's called installing. Language matters and I see no reason to concede this point in Google's favour.

Language matters, so don't let google turn sideloading into a dirty word. It was called sideloading before Google was even founded.

My first encounter with "sideloading" I think was loading up a MP3 player with music, for some reason that was called "sideloading" by some people. In that case, "sideloading" was just transferring basically, nothing about installing.

But once Android appeared, and there was one Google-approved way of installing applications (Google Store) and one way of installing directly from .apk after enabling "Unknown Sources", then the word started to be used for the second approach.

I don't remember if it was Google who started using "sideloading" or the community itself, but regardless, "installing" would be a more understandable word for anyone to use for the processing of installing an application on your phone, as (what I recall to be) the original meaning was just transferring.

Re: Android/Linux Dual Boot

#96
post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's bypassing the usual channel for app installations, so the term is technically fitting and the loaded meaning is also appropriate since it's mostly used by nerds (maybe too strong a word) and bad actors. There are legitimate uses of sideloading for regular users, for example if you have solar panels that work with a Huawei app, they can't put it on the Play store because of US sanctions. But that's not Google's f…

>and that does mean the app is more risky since it's not monitored by Google. This implies the play store isn't hosting tonnes of malware right now

Yeah maybe it gives the wrong idea. It's still better than no monitoring at all.

It gets tricky with alternative stores like F-Droid. I guess if you use F-Droid as a trusted source then it shouldn't be called sideloading.

Re: Android/Linux Dual Boot

#97
post #3

This will become increasingly important as Google has boiled the frog too fast while trying to force its new store policies + banning sideloading; however, all of the pieces are now in place for them to try again in a year or 2, which history shows us they will. It’s certainly time to start toying with Linux phones if you haven’t already. This year I picked up an Xperia 10 to flash Sailfish OS on—which has rough edge…

> I picked up an Xperia

I had an Xperia for awhile. I liked it while it was new, but after a year the back started peeling off.

Pretty lousy for a phone that was supposed to be waterproof. At that point I realized that the Japanese change out their phones every 6-12 months, thus Sony didn't realize that the market demands much longer reliability in a smartphone.

Re: Android/Linux Dual Boot

#98
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> sideloading It's called installing. Language matters and I see no reason to concede this point in Google's favour.

I agree with the ethos but "banning installing" wouldn't have been correct here. There should be terminology for installing from the source of your choice which doesn't carry the marginal or sinister connotations of "sideloading" though. "Freeloading" would have been a good one but... yeah

> but "banning installing" wouldn't have been correct here.

it would

and it would show exactly why it is absurd

Re: Android/Linux Dual Boot

#99
post #33
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can also install through the Play store. Sideloading is more specific.

Like hacking, sideloading is now a loaded & misunderstood term. It is considered as something only nerds or bad actors do. Let's just call it alternate install.

it's not "alternate" install - it is install

it's google's monopolized install that needs to be called by a long name

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