this post was submitted on 25 Feb 2026
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[–] Arcane2077@sh.itjust.works 10 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (15 children)

Yes, Apple did. Before that, it was called downloading

[–] Ulrich@feddit.org -1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (13 children)

Once again, no they didn't. Literally just look it up. You have the knowledge of the world at your fingertips.

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

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sideloading

Had I said "downloading" it wouldn't have made much sense, would it?

[–] lIlIlIlIlIlIl@lemmy.world 0 points 1 day ago (4 children)

Can I ask you why Google has deliberately chosen to ALWAYS use the term sideloading? Doesn’t that seem weird for an internet company - who should know better - to not just say “install?”

How do you think this came to be?

[–] Ulrich@feddit.org -1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Can I ask you why Google has deliberately chosen to ALWAYS use the term

For the same reason I ALWAYS use it: Because it's shorter than "installing apps from outside the Google Play Store".

How do you think this came to be?

I literally just told you that in the comment you replied to.

[–] lIlIlIlIlIlIl@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I do not agree with your reasoning, tempting as it may be to believe that Google is neutral

[–] Ulrich@feddit.org 0 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

Google is not neutral, that doesn't mean they invented the word or that the word itself is somehow inexplicably malicious.

[–] lIlIlIlIlIlIl@lemmy.world 1 points 13 hours ago

I don’t think they invented the word

It’s naive to think Google doesn’t have a reason behind the popularization of a term that indicates to the user they’re not the one in ultimate control of their own personal device

Keep getting upset over it though if that makes you happy

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