this post was submitted on 13 Feb 2025

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144

Unofficial TikTok downloads surge in the US (www.bbc.com)

submitted 2 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

20 comments fedilink hide all child comments

cross-posted from: https://rss.ponder.cat/post/109565

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[–] [email protected] 151 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (6 children)

"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.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

As a traditional Mac user I also “side loaded” applications

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

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...

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago

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.exe

[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Sideloading doesn't sound dangerous, if anything it sounds cool lol

[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

It sounds cool because it sounds dangerous

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago

Hell yeah. Lemme put on my hacker glasses and sideload some shit.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago

I guess you've convinced me to sideload and smoke cigarettes.

I'm going to be so fucking cool.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

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.

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.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 weeks ago

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.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago

There's even .deb, .rpm, flakes, whatever pacman uses, … that are just package files that copy to /bin/ for you, like .apk/.ipas.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (2 children)

It's a word the industry made up to make installing your own software sound dangerous.

[citation needed]

Prior to the bullshit ass Microsoft Store, sideloading was literally the only way to get shit on Windows.

Yeah, I mean that made sense when it was the only way. There was no need to differentiate. That's not the case anymore.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

The term "sideloading" has been around since the 90s. Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sideloading

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 weeks ago

The term "sideload" was coined in the late 1990s by online storage service i-drive as an alternative means of transferring and storing computer files virtually instead of physically.

Sounds like it was something very different back then...

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

ulrich!

now you are lars ulrich. How many ulrichs can you be?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago

Oh merde! You caught me!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

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.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 weeks ago

Oh, so now they realized how sideloading works after they bought phones with the app pre-installed.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago

I think I figured out why America is so dumb. Because they can't go a day without scrolling through mindless garbage on Tiktok.