Are they really though? does the average person really care about side loading? I think we are in an echo chamber. I can't picture any of the people in my life installing things from outside of an app store on their phone. However I realize that's purely anecdotal, it would be nice to see actual statistics on this to have a more informed decision.
Some of them will even be frightened by the question because they consider their devices scary and dangerous enough already.
I agree, my mother doesn’t really need a general purpose computing device. She needs a device that can do Whatsapp video calls and the odd bit of banking.
I don’t think you and she should get the same device. But there are a lot more of her than us. So you’re left with buying a niche, open device (usually pricey and less up to date hardware) or railing against the people making devices for an audience who are for the most part closer to my mother’s aptitude than yours.
I don’t see an easy answer here.
But it will affect them all the same.
Even Fortnite gave up on direct installs. If one of most popular game in the world can't make it, who can?
So yes, hundreds of millions of people care about this.
Normies in sanctioned countries install banking apps by "sideloading" APK's downloaded from an official site. They all know exactly what "sideloading" is and why Google is banning it.
> They all know [...] why Google is banning it.
Do they? I don't think most "normies" would come to the same conclusion you have. By definition, a "normie" seems much more likely to trust that this is being done for security rather than persecution. Especially when they learn that Americans can't easily sideload bank apps either.
"Ruining Android for everyone" ("to try to maybe help some") does not mean, "Android is now ruined for X, for all X." It means, perhaps confusingly, pretty much the opposite.
It means: "There exists some X for which Android is now ruined (because Google is trying to protect Y, for all Y)." (Yes, really. The way the other person phrased it is the right way way to phrase it—or, at least, it's a valid way to phrase it.)
