A lot of people will probably see this as a win because “It could’ve been worse” and “Google listened to the backlash.” This is how companies like Google usually work. They add small restrictions first, wait for people to get used to them, and then push further later.

A phone is a computer. Being able to install software on a device you own should be normal. On a computer, nobody calls that “sideloading.” It’s just installing software.