Open source in containers

Container technology has changed the way in which applications are deployed and managed. Containers provide the capability to host different isolated applications using resource isolation features of the OS.

Docker is the most popular open source container technology due to its light weight and the ability to package applications with all dependencies into standardised units of software development. With Docker, the developer doesn’t need to waste hours in building a dev environment, nor make copies of production code and spin up new instances. Neither does the developer need to eliminate the environment inconsistency by packaging an application in such a way that it can run on any machine, either for test or production. This avoids the overhead of installing configs on different systems. Docker creates a common framework for developers and sysadmins to work together on distributed applications.

The evolution of open source is a continuous process as many developers are continually working on enhancing the features. Sooner or later, open source solutions might become the de-facto standard for applications in many fields as they are being adopted by academia and enterprise alike.