[moondowner]

I've been using Rancher Desktop as an alternative to Docker Desktop, https://rancherdesktop.io/ on macOS and Windows, it's pretty solid.

It has some kinks to work out but I got it working with IDEs too (e.g. the Intellij IDEA Docker Compose integration to work with it).

What I also like is that existing scripts and etc that use the docker-compose cli work with Rancher Desktop too, as it uses nerdctl https://github.com/containerd/nerdctl

[PufPufPuf]

Rancher Desktop is great, because kubernetes just works. Not only that, you can "docker build" an image, and then immediately spin it up as a kubernetes pod, without spending ten minutes googling the correct commands to correctly "load" the image.

[manojlds]

Yup +1 for Rancher Desktop. Works as smooth as Docker Desktop on MacOS.

[aaqureshi]

Been using Rancher Desktop for 2 years, can definitely recommend this as an alternative to Docker Desktop.

[SystemOut]

We just completed the switch to Rancher where I work. 1200ish engineers, mostly on Macs. So far it's worked out pretty well..fewer hiccups than I expected.

[justinclift]

Does it use the same "containers are really just running in a Linux VM" approach as Docker Desktop on macOS?

[1oooqooq]

unless you run osx on a Linux kernel, it will always be so.

not a personal attack on you, but it blows my mind how clueless the current generation of developers become after the docker phase.

[fragmede]

personal attack or not, you could have just left that last bit off and had a good comment.

There's always been a mythos of a true developer. Here's a rant from 1983 about how real programmers don't use Pascal. https://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/real.programmers.html

Kids these days...

[brianpan]

I don't understand this comment on any level.

Containers will only ever be on a linux kernel or VM? Never natively on ANY other OS? Only Linux containers exist?

Developers were more clueful about containers before Docker made them wildly popular?

[ahoka]

“Only Linux containers exist?“

In practice, yes.

[maccard]

Windows containers absolutely exist in practice.

[justinclift]

> unless you run osx on a Linux kernel, it will always be so

Linux is not the only OS that has container like things. FreeBSD had jails years earlier, Solaris had something else which I don't remember any more, and for all I know macOS may have their own native equivalent as well.

Bear in mind that Apple introduced an official hypervisor framework a few releases ago, so they could be doing something similar for containers. It wouldn't be a bad idea. :)

[cortesoft]

I really like the whole Rancher ecosystem. Setting up a cluster with rancher is such a pleasant experience.

[pjmlp]

Currently it is the best alternative I have used, in what concerns the same experience as Docker Desktop on Windows.