There are many arguments I can think of for using docker but "standard" is a pretty poor one. Directories, bash scripts and package managers are also arguably "

There are many arguments I can think of for using docker but "standard" is a pretty poor one. Directories, bash scripts and package managers are also arguably "standard" and sufficient to install most software. We should care primarily about alleviating deployment pain - not about argumentum ad popularum. "Shipping container standardisation" is not a metaphor for what docker is, it's marketing. Docker, of course wants to be a "standard" product. Every product wants to be that. In my experience, it's been more like a buggy kludge to deal with applications that have isolation issues with their dependencies and unnecessary overhead for applications that don't. All with a sprinkling of marketing hype.