Big Brother much?
By routing everything thru the store, Google has the ability to spy on you and know which add ons you use.
Sorry, but I only use Chrome as a last resort.
Google on Tuesday said it plans to discontinue inline installation of Chrome browser extensions, by which code on third-party websites can trigger the installation of extensions from the Chrome Web Store. The decision, which will be implemented in stages, follows a series of complaints in recent years about malicious …
I would guess that Google could already determine which extensions are running.
I think all the commendards (and most of the readers of El Reg) understand that about Google. They can make their own choices about becoming the product (if it's free, *you* are the product).
This change doesn't alter that.
They could already do that. They haven't removed the sideloading thing, but instead they have patched a hole that allowed people to sneak code into users' browsers with a low-profile thing that was easier for users to just click through. I don't use chrome because of the privacy problems it entails, but google has improved it with this change. I see little to complain about in this situation.
"By routing everything thru the store"
If you read the article, you'll note that this is regarding thing that are already routed through the store. The only difference is that now anything routed through the store will have to do so by visibly sending the user to an actual store page where they can click an install button, rather than being able to trick people into installing something via a link without realising what's happening. The ability to install things without using the store is not affected although, as others have noted, that's not going to stop Google knowing what you have installed in Chrome anyway.