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Re:Android Developer Verification by tejtm on Monday March 30, 2026 @09:34PM (#47581761)
Please call it what it is and always has been:

   I.N.S.T.A.L.L.I.N.G   S.O.F.T.W.A.R.E
"side load" is like "jay walking' seeks to stigmatize humans being human.
Re:Android Developer Verification by tredre3 on Tuesday March 31, 2026 @12:36AM (#47582803)
When you jay walk you take the risk of being hit by a car, causing injuries to you, to the driver, and to other nearby people.

So I don't understand your analogy? Are you suggesting that pedestrians own the streets and should do what they please, as users own their phone and should have the right to do as they please? Or something else?

Re:Android Developer Verification by Xirdus on Tuesday March 31, 2026 @01:11AM (#47582978)
The term jaywalking was invented (or possibly hijacked) by automotive lobbyists as part of a campaign in 1910s and 1920s to convince the public and the lawmakers that crossing streets outside designated points is bad and should be made illegal. Before then, it was generally considered basic human right to walk anywhere on a street. Whether you agree that jaywalking is bad or not, that's the history of the term.

Grandparent is saying that the term sideloading was invented in a similar fashion to delegitimize a previously completely normal way to use an electronic device.

Re:Android Developer Verification by wiseowise on Tuesday March 31, 2026 @02:14AM (#47583380)
> Are you suggesting that pedestrians own the streets and should do what they please

In the cities? Yes, absolutely.

Re:Android Developer Verification by spaqin on Tuesday March 31, 2026 @01:20AM (#47583033)
Yeah, I'm willing to use my brain and look at incoming cars and just walk when it's empty and safe to do so? Where's the problem in that? I have eyes and can judge distance and speed?
Re:Android Developer Verification by pjc50 on Tuesday March 31, 2026 @04:54AM (#47584492)
"Jaywalking" is one of those things that's uniquely American. Most other countries have realized that the risk of being hit by a car is its own deterrent. Or restrict the legal ban on crossing to highways, not all streets.

The UK Highway Code has a RFC-like use of MUST/SHOULD; MUST parts are legally binding, the parts relating to pedestrians are SHOULD.

Re:Android Developer Verification by kuschku on Tuesday March 31, 2026 @06:12AM (#47585107)
The German regulation is also really interesting:

Jaywalking is only illegal if there's a crossing less than 50m away. (And even then it's only a misdemeanor, not a crime).

That also means that city planners have to balance between people jaywalking, putting crossings everywhere, and how crossings slow down traffic.

And every time a car makes a turn, pedestrians automatically have priority. Which creates an implicit zebra crossing.

The only roads exempt from this are autobahn/motorways. These are by law prohibited from having direct access to anything.

That's IMO also a way for the US to get out of its current situation. Set up a rule like that, with a large distance at the beginning, and slowly reduce it over the next few years, forcing local planners to introduce additional crossings, which also reduces through traffic. The separation of streets vs autobahn also mostly prevents stroads.

Re:Android Developer Verification by fc417fc802 on Tuesday March 31, 2026 @07:49AM (#47585981)
I believe most jurisdictions in the US have largely the same framework. At least everywhere I've lived all street corners were implicit pedestrian crossings with a legal requirement (often blatantly ignored) that vehicles yield. Similarly jaywalking is a misdemeanor and only applies within a certain distance of a crossing.

The only situations where it's enforced (from what I've seen so obviously biased) is major highways, city streets with dense traffic and a marked crossing within half a block, and when they want to search someone for contraband. In the latter case it's just an excuse to stop and harass you in the hopes they will manage to generate sufficient articulable suspicion to justify a search.

Re:Android Developer Verification by iggldiggl on Wednesday April 01, 2026 @04:21AM (#47598275)
> And every time a car makes a turn, pedestrians automatically have priority. Which creates an implicit zebra crossing.

Only for turning traffic, though, i.e. as a pedestrian you still need to yield to traffic coming from the side street. There was some talk of having pedestrians participate more fully in right-of-way-rules, too, i.e. if the side street has a yield/stop sign, traffic would have to yield to crossing pedestrians, too, but so far that idea didn't get anywhere.

Re:Android Developer Verification by realusername on Tuesday March 31, 2026 @02:31AM (#47583488)
I call it "direct install" personally, implying the play store is the indirect install.
Re:Android Developer Verification by mastermage on Tuesday March 31, 2026 @08:55AM (#47586674)
actualy yeah its way more direct than google play store technically
Re:Android Developer Verification by JLCarveth on Tuesday March 31, 2026 @08:03AM (#47586115)
Please don't try and police my language
Re:Android Developer Verification by Xunjin on Tuesday March 31, 2026 @09:05AM (#47586785)
Tbh I do not think the idea is to "police" you, I do believe he means to show that "side load apps" is a corporate speech to say "don't do this, but we allow it". However it's literally just installing software.

Let's apply the "side load" apps logic to Desktop applications, imagine you have to pass for an entire process just to install an app you downloaded?

Re:Android Developer Verification by throwawayk7h on Tuesday March 31, 2026 @01:53PM (#47591087)
telling someone not to use corporate speech is policing their language.
Re:Android Developer Verification by tejtm on Tuesday March 31, 2026 @02:54PM (#47591828)
valid.

n.b. "you" were not considered in my statement save as an agent.

Re:Android Developer Verification by throwawayk7h on Tuesday March 31, 2026 @01:53PM (#47591078)
"Being able to install software is why was why I switched to Android"

This doesn't make sense to me. iOS and Android (and HarmonyOS) all allow you to "install software".