For those of you familiar with Docker (http://docker.io http://docker.io): CoreOS is a linux distribution designed to get your machine from zero to Docker as qu

For those of you familiar with Docker (http://docker.io http://docker.io): CoreOS is a linux distribution designed to get your machine from zero to Docker as quickly and reliably as possible. It is stripped down to the bare minimum, since its primary job is to run Docker, which itself has almost no dependencies. As a result CoreOS boots very quickly, and is hard to get in an inconsistent state because it has less moving parts. I think it's a great example of what becomes possible with the Separation of Concerns allowed by container-based deployment. With docker containers as the standard "glue", the components in your system can be less tightly coupled, and as a result they can be simpler and more reliable. And because each component can be chosen independently of the others, it's easier for new alternatives to be adopted, because you don't have to rip out the whole system to try them out. For example, in a docker-based system, you could easily try out CoreOS on a few machines alongside your existing Red Hat or Debian setup, because they can all run Docker. You could try StriderCI or Buildbot instead of Jenkins for continuous integration, because they can all build docker containers. You could try Nginx instead of Apache for some of your applications, because they can all be bundled into a docker container. And so on. TLDR: containers lead to better interop between tools, which leads to more innovation and competition on the tools, which leads to better tools, which leads to happier engineers! :)