As the world watched fascinated by the Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) technology called #containers that package an operating system kernel more optimal than a virtual machine. It is hard to take on the role of ‘Ahab’ to perceive this as a malevolent force for technology. For those that kept an open-mind like Ishmael, you could be reaping the rewards today with cloud computing. The basic benefit is to package an application and its dependencies in a virtual container that can run on any Linux server.
When did Docker set sail?
The journey of true collaboration and partnership started in 2013 with Red Hat and Docker announcing a collaboration on the Linux OS including Fedora, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and OpenShift.
In 2014, the following announcement was made “Microsoft is building new container technologies into the next Windows Server release, enabling Dockerized applications to run on Windows Server on-premises or Azure.”
It wasn’t long after that when AWS announced that they too wanted their customers to benefit from container services with cloud computing. A month after that Docker partnered with Stratoscale and then IBM Cloud. The ease of consistency of code, operational efficiency versus virtual machines and scalable and easy maintenance had its name – Dockerised.
In the true spirit of Open Source in 2015, ten years ago Docker, CoreOS, Google, Microsoft, AWS and others came together to develop a common container standard for Cloud Computing. On GitHub, a quick analysis in 2016 showed that the Docker team, Cisco, Google, Huawei, IBM, Microsoft and Red Hat were the main contributors to updating the project.
In 2017 the Moby Project was launched with three core components. Firstly, a library of containerised backend components. Secondly, a framework for assembling the components into a standalone container platform, with tooling to build, test and deploy artefacts. Lastly, a reference assembly called Moby Origin, which is the open base for the Docker container platform, as well as examples of container systems using various components from the Moby library or other projects.
Where did we dock?
Well, if you missed DockerCon this May, you can still catch up with the other 64,000 community members, users and customers. For the first time, Docker launched its public roadmap focused on developers. You can find it here.
Docker has a new strategy focused on developers, bringing simplicity to app building, understanding the ecosystem and helping teams bring code to cloud faster and smarter. “By focusing on developer experience through Docker Desktop, partnering with the ecosystem, and making Docker Hub the nexus for all the integrations, configuration, and management of the application components which constitute your apps and microservices,” explained John Kreisa.
The key challenge is easily going from code to cloud and its complexities. The many choices across packaging, inner loop, registry, CI, security, CD, and public cloud runtimes can leave one reeling when making a decision. We have partnered with Autumn Leaf to help you on this journey.
Moby and Molly Dock
In November of 2017, Sir David Attenborough mentioned in his opening of the BBC documentary series Blue Planet II: “The oceans cover 70% of the surface of our planet, and yet they are still the least explored…” To explore more about Docker is simple with just a click away.
In the same documentary “A generation on, new science and technology allow us to journey deeper than ever before at the most crucial time in our oceans’ history”.
Why did Docker go above and beyond on #worldoceansday as a technology company? While containers ships and whales are nothing more than terminology and logos they will always stick in my mind on this day and the Moby Dock icon will live on as a true open source partner that cares about any environment.
by Angela Ho