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This seems like a bit of a footgun from Docker Inc. Those on Linux will just run Docker Engine (the open source part) directly, or move to alternatives like Pod

This seems like a bit of a footgun from Docker Inc. Those on Linux will just run Docker Engine (the open source part) directly, or move to alternatives like Podman. Docker Desktop only really has value on macOS and Windows, and there it's only because nobody wants to manage the glue to setup a Linux VM. Given the cost, I suspect many will chose to do that glue work themselves and I wouldn't be surprised to see an open source project spring up to do that. Everything else is handled by other parts of the ecosystem already, image registries both private and public, orchestration, etc.

sascha_sl 5y ago
macOS is the hard one to solve. It does a lot of magic things in the background and Docker even created their own "distro" / VM build system, linuxkit, that went on to be useful in a lot of other places to make it work. A lot of macOS developers imo seem to have more knowledge in their specific domain and less in how to wire up a VM to look seamless, they'll need the docker CLI to work with the local filesystem to keep a lot of existing Makefiles functional, I see a bunch of companies caughing up money in the short term just for that. Docker Desktop on Windows itself proves quite well that WSL2 works fine for this use case.
duped 5y ago
The hype/buzzword driven development surrounding micro services/containerization has hit middle America and enterprises spend dumb amounts of money on related projects. I can see them spending more money on Docker Desktop with no difficulty, because the incentive is not to save money.
qeternity 5y ago
It’s not the users who will be paying for it. Enterprises will bend over and take this 100% Good move by Docker, financially speaking. They have little to lose.
- coding123 5y ago
  It's a short sited move that will kill D.Desktop. It's not that these large corps don't have the money for this, it's how money is allocated in companies. Instead, now all hobby projects in large corp get killed fast and early because the hobbyist knows their project is doomed if the company isn't going to go for a new bill. A whole bunch of scenarios die now.
  - cshokie 5y ago
    I agree that it seems self-destructive. I use Docker Desktop at work for a one-off side project that I run manually every once in a while. Using a container for it helps keep things maintainable compared to a full VM that needs full maintenance. If I have to get formal approval and a purchase to continue using it then the most likely outcome is this side project stops completely. And with it my excuse to gain professional experience using Docker.
  - seoaeu 5y ago
    ...if a company is incapable of allocating money to pay Docker, then why should Docker care whether that company uses the product or not?
    - lugged 5y ago
      You can't figure out why a company selling a product might want to care about losing users and market share?
      - seoaeu 5y ago
        "Selling" and "market share" is pretty generous when talking about people who are not and will never give you any money. Sure maybe they'll pay you in exposure, but personally I wouldn't bet much on that
dhagz 5y ago
Honestly, I don't see a reason to keep Docker for Mac installed on my computer. I haven't run a container workload locally in I don't know how long and I haven't built a container locally in even longer. It's just taking up space on my laptop and bugging me to update what seems like constantly.
remram 5y ago
There is a Docker Desktop for Linux? What does it do? Why would I go out of my way to set up Docker differently on my dev machine compared to my servers? That seems like a recipe for failure.
- simiones 5y ago
  Nope, there isn't (at this time, at least).
- SilverRed 5y ago
  On MacOS and windows, using docker is a pain because you have to run a linux VM and set up networking and everything.

sascha_sl 5y ago

macOS is the hard one to solve. It does a lot of magic things in the background and Docker even created their own "distro" / VM build system, linuxkit, that went on to be useful in a lot of other places to make it work. A lot of macOS developers imo seem to have more knowledge in their specific domain and less in how to wire up a VM to look seamless, they'll need the docker CLI to work with the local filesystem to keep a lot of existing Makefiles functional, I see a bunch of companies caughing up money in the short term just for that. Docker Desktop on Windows itself proves quite well that WSL2 works fine for this use case.

duped 5y ago

The hype/buzzword driven development surrounding micro services/containerization has hit middle America and enterprises spend dumb amounts of money on related projects. I can see them spending more money on Docker Desktop with no difficulty, because the incentive is not to save money.

qeternity 5y ago

It’s not the users who will be paying for it. Enterprises will bend over and take this 100% Good move by Docker, financially speaking. They have little to lose.

coding123 5y ago
It's a short sited move that will kill D.Desktop. It's not that these large corps don't have the money for this, it's how money is allocated in companies. Instead, now all hobby projects in large corp get killed fast and early because the hobbyist knows their project is doomed if the company isn't going to go for a new bill. A whole bunch of scenarios die now.
- cshokie 5y ago
  I agree that it seems self-destructive. I use Docker Desktop at work for a one-off side project that I run manually every once in a while. Using a container for it helps keep things maintainable compared to a full VM that needs full maintenance. If I have to get formal approval and a purchase to continue using it then the most likely outcome is this side project stops completely. And with it my excuse to gain professional experience using Docker.
- seoaeu 5y ago
  ...if a company is incapable of allocating money to pay Docker, then why should Docker care whether that company uses the product or not?
  - lugged 5y ago
    You can't figure out why a company selling a product might want to care about losing users and market share?
    - seoaeu 5y ago
      "Selling" and "market share" is pretty generous when talking about people who are not and will never give you any money. Sure maybe they'll pay you in exposure, but personally I wouldn't bet much on that

dhagz 5y ago

Honestly, I don't see a reason to keep Docker for Mac installed on my computer. I haven't run a container workload locally in I don't know how long and I haven't built a container locally in even longer. It's just taking up space on my laptop and bugging me to update what seems like constantly.

remram 5y ago

There is a Docker Desktop for Linux? What does it do? Why would I go out of my way to set up Docker differently on my dev machine compared to my servers? That seems like a recipe for failure.

simiones 5y ago
Nope, there isn't (at this time, at least).
SilverRed 5y ago
On MacOS and windows, using docker is a pain because you have to run a linux VM and set up networking and everything.