I haven't been following Docker too closely, but I think I finally made an apt metaphor from this latest article. There's an old analogy suggesting that Servers

I haven't been following Docker too closely, but I think I finally made an apt metaphor from this latest article. There's an old analogy suggesting that Servers:VMs :: Houses:Apartments, as in virtualized servers are separate, individual homes from the same physical asset. With Docker, the metaphor gets extended to a dwelling with more communal space and shared resources (like a hotel or some type of commune). You have one large kitchen, one large laundry room, and a little space for any other amenities, but each room is its own unique dwelling that can utilize any and all of the external utilities. EDIT: Really, the metaphor is better if you use chroot instead of VMs