[jacques_chester]

Docker uses the same kernel primitives as other container systems. But it tied together cgroups, namespaces and stackable filesystems into a simple cohesive model.

Add in image registries and a decent CLI and the developer ergonomics are outstanding.

Technologies only attract buzz when they're accessible to mainstream developers on a mainstream platform. The web didn't matter until it was on Windows. Virtualization was irrelevant until it reached x86, containerization was irrelevant until it reached Linux.

Disclaimer: I work for a company, Pivotal, which has a more-than-passing interest in containers. I did a presentation on the history which you might find interesting: http://livestre.am/54NLn

[bosse]

As an ops guy, I would also mention the benefits of the Dockerfile and docker-compose.yml, which could be clear sources for information to how the system is built, and which in most circumstances would build the same system in dev as in prod. By changing a docker tag in the configuration management, I can roll out a new version quite conveniently to staging and eventually to production.

The potential minimalism of a container is also an important concept to mention, with fast startup-times and less services that could potentially be vulnerable.

[patsplat]

Agreed.

Application runtime dependencies are a common source of communication breakdowns between development and infrastructure teams. Making the application container a maintained build file on the project improves this communication.

docker provides:

* a standard format for building container images (the Dockerfile)

* a series of optimizations for working with images and containers (immutable architecture etc).

* a community of pre-built images

* a marketplace of hosting providers

All at the cost of linux only, which is ok for many shops.