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Comment by mimixco | Hacker News Reader

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mimixco

War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength. And Sideloading is Eliminating Choice. Yep!

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I had the same reaction: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27535904

It blows my mind that there are people who defend these kind of statements.

What an unnecessarily trite comment.

Have you any comment on the actual article or the arguments contained within?

Sure. They're ridiculous. You cannot call the absence of the choice to sideload an application "a choice." By the same token, it makes no sense to call having the choice to sideload an application an example of "eliminating choice."

Apple is very good at spinning their walled garden as a user benefit. In some cases, it is. Here, it isn't.

Right now, people have the choice to use a system without sideloading or one with sideloading (Android or presumably something like a pinephone). Forcing iOS to be open to sideloading or other AppStores would remove choice. I chose to use iOS as is because it’s locked down and that’s what I want. Opening the platform would remove that choice.

I consider the lack of sideloading to be an advantage of iOS and I pay a premium for it.

Why would sideloading be a disadvantage? Just don't enable it if you don't need it. If an app wants to sideload something you get directed to the settings where you have to enable it, so it's not like apps can just install themselves.

Apps that I need or like would stop developing for the main store and start demanding people sideload or install another App Store and I would inevitably have to follow along and put my credit card into multiple stores. I don’t have any bargaining power to prevent this, apple do. Of course I could not sideload apps, but I expect that I would lose access to some games and services that I use. There is all downside for me.

>Apps that I need or like would stop developing for the main store and start demanding people sideload or install another App Store

Genuinely curious as I have no idea: Has this happened on Android? What are some examples?

A quick search for sideload-only android apps turns up plenty examples, but I think Android is less restrictive in what it lets you do so I’m not sure the two can be compared that easily. For sure, we’d be getting an Epic store. Either way, sounds like a bad plan to me. Maybe people who think sideloading is an important feature should buy one of the many Android or Linux phones?

Oh I'm sure there are. The claim was that some apps the commenter currently uses will switch from only being available in the App Store to being sideload-only. I'm just trying to find cases of that happening for any notable apps on Android.

I'm not convinced either way about sideloading - I just hear this claim touted a lot around HN. I'm trying to determine if it's FUD by examining the evidence.

Do you have any examples that fit this criteria?

Sounds very much like you have a point to make rather than any desire to examine the evidence (which you could easily find yourself if that was what you cared about). If you google this, as I just did, there are examples of what you're asking for.

What a bizarre comment. A claim was made and I asked for supporting evidence. That's literally how civilized debate works. It's not my job to support your argument.

Also, I want to hear from Android enthusiasts. I've never owned an Android phone and wouldn't know a notable/popular app on the platform unless it was also popular on iOS. I doubt there are any apps that are in the Apple App Store but are sideload-only on Android. That just doesn't make sense.

Now, do you have any examples of notable Apps abandoning the Play Store and going sideload-only, or not?

If you don't want to debate, that's fine too.

Not your search engine.

Nor are you someone with a rudimentary understanding of how debate works — You either support your assertion with evidence, or concede that there is no evidence to begin with. Simple.

I'll take your excuses to mean you can't do the former, but refuse to do the latter. That's fine. But please know that HN readers can see right through what you're doing. It never, ever, wins arguments around here.

It’s not a debate and it never was, whatever you may wish. There’s plenty of evidence a short google search away if that was what you were really interested in, but it’s clearly not. Either way, Android was never in a position where it was forced to allow side loading like is possible here, so I think the comparison is meaningless.

Ok, if you won't provide the URL for the search (for some bizarre reason), will you at least provide the search phrase?

Additionally: If you can provide evidence that supports your point, I'll donate $30 to the charity of your choosing. That should make the 30 seconds it takes to copy the urls, worth your while.

Yes, I'm serious. And will provide proof of donation.

One simple example from the article is that sideloading would increase the security attack surface for iOS users.

Per site guidelines, please don’t feed the trolls: flag or downvote and move along.

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