Clearly this is BS. Sideloading is perfectly safe if you just reputable resources.
What he’s really saying if that the average user is too dumb and will install any rubbish from anywhere. He’s not wrong but that shouldn’t prevent competent users from sideloading.
At least they’ve made the process scary enough that the average user don’t even bother to do it
It’s a non issue that shouldn’t be given any time.
I’ve sideloaded for years and never had any malware.
He doesnt want to name specific types of people or it might make it seem like google attacking specific people. So instead all users get bundled in this. They will use the most careless users as a reason to take it away from all users. It benefits them.
I think that Google really just wants to get less and less people to sideload and then shame others that do through public shaming. ‘oh that’s dangersous son; you shouldn’t be sideloading that Fdroid app! Google said so.’ That’s why they brought it up to begin with, this is as google goes over court with epic games over the app store fee.
Id rather become a hermit than pay for and give up all my privacy like these assholes want. Boycott everything, enough is enough. Even grocery companies are gouging us with record profits.
If we’re not careful there will be a new generation of users who have no concept of “apps” at all, and will conflate sideloading (or anything ‘not authorized’) with an illegal process.
Fuck you Pichai, fuck you Google, fuck you Big Tech. I’m not doing what you are telling me, I’m not using your crappy proprietary services that are built to spy on everyone, I’m not watching your shitty advertisements, I’m definitely not giving you any of my data. I hope your piece of shit company goes bankrupt and you end up on the street, that’s where you belong to. I’m not a slave of your totalitarian system, I’m free to choose where I download my software and what software I want to run on my devices. I do everything to avoid your surveillance capitalism, I use FLOSS software wherever I can. Your business model is a piece of trash, it will inevitably fail at some point. I am sure that you will try to do everything to mislead the public and to get them to believe your lies, but not everyone is as stupid as you would like them to be.
I will with you halfway through with this, here is how I view it.
If you have little experience with telling between safe sources and sketchy, then yes, stick with the defualt.
If ypuu know about some safe appstores or repositories then that’s when you could say you are qualified to make thes decisions. Like I know Fdroid is safer and better than the defialt on everyway for the users best interest, but if you dont know your sources then you should not sidelode untill you do know how to make good decisions.
“We’re trying to strike a balance. Apple’s iPhone only allows the App Store, but we believe in choice, so on Android we allow you to sideload and install additional applications.”
I’m so conflicted about it. I don’t want people to have to suffer for intentionally or unintentionally installing garbage on their phones, but I can’t let that take away from how I use my device as well.
Google Chrome isn’t on the Microsoft Store on Windows or macOS Store on macOS. Should I stop “sideloading” it according to his advice?
Yes, actually no one on this planet should be using Chrome or any proprietary browser when superior FLOSS alternatives like Firefox and LibreWolf exist.
Don’t even get me started on the flaws with Apple, their walled garden and the App Store
It’s the reason I left the Apple ecosystem and switched to a far superior operating system that actually respects the user and gives them freedom over their devices. GrapheneOS is awesome!
I agree with him. If you don’t know what you are doing and just blindly install something off the Internet, it’s a security concern. I would not recommend that most users side-load apps, either. You have to remember that this crowd is not representative of the average user.
Just don’t take the option away from those of us who do know what they are doing.
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