• cmhe@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    Until some time ago, I always though that “side-loading” is something different. Since I first saw “side-loading” used in ADB, so I thought that it means using another system on the side to load and install software onto a target system.

    So to me that seems fitting, but now it seems to be used differently. How is installing software using just one device “side-loading”. What side do they mean?

    • stephan262@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      I’ve always took side-loading to mean installing from local storage, as opposed to downloading from remote storage. As far as I’m concerned downloading from a third party app store should not be treated as side-loading.

      • cmhe@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        But to install from local storage, you first download or fetch a storage medium from a remote location with the file on it. There isn’t that much of a difference IMO.

        I would not call it side-loading when I download a file and then install it on the same device. Because that is how it has always worked. I never before heard people describing downloading and executing a setup.exe as “side-loading”.

        • stephan262@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          Fair points. I was mostly thinking of situations like downloading using a separate device, writing to a usb drive or SD card and installing via that. Downloading an installer and using it is just downloading without using an app store.