What’s interesting here is the constant drone of techie wannabes about side loading and third party app stores. Like iOS user,s Android users apparently prefer Google’s own app store over all the third party side loading. So is all this bellowing about side loading just a wet dream for nerds? I think it is.
If people prefer a particular store, then great for them, the "nerds" have no issues with that.
All the "nerds" want, is choice.
Why would you even care if us "nerds" have the choice to download from other sources? It's no skin off your back.
And talking of the choice to download from anywhere, this is, um, you know, what always has, and still does, exist on macOS.
As a "nerd", I almost never download apps from the macOS Apple App Store, and the only time I do is if the company producing the app actually points me to it as the only place to download it. Most don't bother though, why would they?
As a software dev, oops, I mean, as a "nerd", I am regularly downloading dev tools and libraries direct via the "Linux" terminal, using tools such as npm, or brew. I wouldn't even be able to do my work with a Mac if not for this ability.
Besides, the official Apple and Google app stores are annoying junk, full of scammy, annoying crapware.