

The Man Who Would Build a Computer the Size of the Entire Internet - julien421
http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2013/09/docker/1

======
shykes
Hi everyone, I'm the guy featured in this article. Now that the dust is
settling I thought I might answer a few of the most frequent questions.

> _So what does Docker actually do?_

Thanks for asking!

From the project homepage: _Docker is an open-source project to easily create
lightweight, portable, self-sufficient containers from any application. The
same container that a developer builds and tests on a laptop can run at scale,
in production, on VMs, bare metal, OpenStack clusters, public clouds and
more._

There's a nice high-level overview on
[http://www.docker.io/learn_more/](http://www.docker.io/learn_more/) , and a
really cool interactive tutorial on
[http://www.docker.io/gettingstarted/](http://www.docker.io/gettingstarted/)

I also encourage you to join the IRC channel (#docker on freenode). It's
extremely active and the people there are super nice. They will get you up to
speed in no time!

> _Why is the press talking about Docker when the kernel developers did all
> the real work?_

Press coverage is not a zero-sum game. Does it hurt Linux and its developers
when Docker gets attention? Or does it further establish Linux as the
ubiquitous software infrastructure that it is?

There's no question that Docker wouldn't be possible (or would be much less
useful anyway) without the work of countless kernel hackers who implemented
and hardened namespacing and control groups. We also owe a lot to Junjiro
Okajima, the author of AUFS. I don't believe we're doing any of these people a
disservice by building cool stuff on top of their code, open-sourcing all of
it, and getting a lot more people excited about the combined result.

> _How do I buy an article like this on Wired?_

That's not how press works. Based on my experience, here's how to get quality
press coverage.

First build something people want. As more people use it and express their
excitement, journalists will take notice. They will then contact you for
details and if they like what they hear they will write a story.

> _I was going to try Docker, but it 's so hyped now that it doesn't seem
> legit anymore_

Really? This reaction makes me so, so sad.

Speaking on behalf of everyone who has contributed to Docker in one way or the
other. _ALL WE ASK_ is that you evaluate the project based on its merits,
instead of how fashionable it is.

Tell me you hit a bug. Tell me it doesn't solve a real problem for you. Tell
me the documentation isn't clear, or the code is not clean. But for the love
of god, don't tell me your criticism of a project is that it's _too_ popular,
and therefore no longer a trendy thing to use. Please tell me that is not what
the hacker community has come to.

------
rwmj
Can someone explain how a little wrapper around LXC gets major magazine
articles and hype, whereas the people who've been doing the real hard work for
years get no attention at all?

~~~
zacharydanger
Wired is the Cosmo of tech journalism.

~~~
DavidWanjiru
I read this comment when this story was on the front page, and it's occurred
to me ask, what would you consider the antithesis of Wired? You know,
something you'd recommend someone read...

------
WestCoastJustin
How do startups cope with pressure to perform? The pressure must be immense on
the dotCloud/Docker folks. They have been active on HN responding to questions
and comments, but having such publicity, Wired and HN driving traffic and
questions, on non-production/beta software (docker) must be hard. I guess you
just keep going like you always do.

In several of my personal project, I have noticed that once you have a
following, you try to keep the standards up and only release quality, things
start to take longer, and longer, because you do not want to let anyone down.
I have felt real pressure to perform, and my projects are not anywhere near
their level!

~~~
nickstinemates
I can only speak for myself, but I feel that if you aren't in a place where
there's tremendous pressure to perform your focus should be on getting there
as soon as possible. Part of that pressure comes from the vibrant and active
user and business community surrounding Docker.

The amount of work ahead of us is minuscule in comparison to the amount of
work we'll have ahead of us in a year, and so on. However, scaling
appropriately to become an organization that can handle those demands is
really, really hard.

------
dxhdr
Can someone explain, briefly, how Docker works? It seems to be getting an
increasing amount of buzz lately and I'd like to understand what's going on.
All I hear is how you can wrap software in a container that will run anywhere
-- not a very helpful explanation. Docker's own website is surprisingly light
on specifics... all I know after reading it is that it will, indeed, run
almost anywhere! (but how?)

~~~
woah
[https://www.docker.io/gettingstarted/#](https://www.docker.io/gettingstarted/#)

Try the tutorial, if it still doesn't make much sense to you, then it's
probably not something you need to worry about.

------
snorkel
I don't get it. I don't see how Docker makes service management any easier
than using a plain ol' VM. The steps involved feel about the same to me.

------
snake_plissken
See: Daedalus, Icarus and Helios.

[1]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deus_Ex_characters#Artificial_i...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deus_Ex_characters#Artificial_intelligences)

------
cthackers
way to GO.

~~~
cthackers
seems someone didn't get it.

~~~
wmf
We get it, but it's just not that funny. Also, I think I would consider Go
truly successful when people _stop_ feeling the need to point out every place
that it's used.

~~~
cthackers
well, is not that successful yet. that's why it's nice to see a big project
using it.

