Live data from Hacker News

Docker Desktop no longer free for large companies

theregister.com

281–290 of 597 posts

Re: Docker Desktop no longer free for large companies

#281

So many people in this thread don’t understand how enterprise decisions get made. The business license costs $21/month, probably less in reality. Do you really think that businesses are going to jeopardize the workflows of their $250k/year assets over a very core piece of software for $250/year? Any alternative has switching costs and risks. Companies will just pay this. I see so many people saying “just do these 10…

>Do you really think that businesses are going to jeopardize the workflows of their $250k/year assets over a very core piece of software for $250/year?

Tech companies? No, they will probably cough up until they have another solution.

IT departments in non-tech companies? Yes. I fully expect a circus there. Many won't have known it was being used, purchasing will have their ego bruised by a company "hijacking" them and won't want to pay, and so on.

Re: Docker Desktop no longer free for large companies

#282
post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If someone suggests a tool that costs $1k/yr over a free tool that costs $5k/year in extra work, I’m going to die on the free tool hill. Because the $1k/yr tool will disappear when the company goes defunct, or it won’t interoperate with something else and there is no way of fixing it. Or it can’t migrate to the next tool. Or we need to upgrade to an enterprise license because we become 21 developers instead of 20. Or…

> Free tools have a predictable and stable cost. Unless they suddenly turn from free into a $21/month per person fee.

I think he means free as in open source, rather than free as in freeware. In which the worst case scenario is that you are stuck with the last open-source version, but at least you retain full control over your fork of the code and can add features and bug fixes as you see fit.

Re: Docker Desktop no longer free for large companies

#283
For everyone who is against this change, can you please write up why?

For a ton of small companies (anyone making $10 million or less per year) nothing is going to change and DD is still free to use.

If you're at a big organization with let's say 200 developers chances are your company makes hundreds of millions of dollars a year. Even Docker's most expensive business plan would cost you 200 * $21 = $4,200 month.

Payroll for your 200 developers will likely be over 3 million dollars a month. How can you be upset with paying 4k a month? That's almost nothing relative to other expenses.

Realistically I'm surprised Docker is charging so little for their business plan. Making 4k on 200 developers at a 300 million+ company is not asking a lot.

Re: Docker Desktop no longer free for large companies

#284
post #141
post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Policy success is directly dependent on how we handle requests for exception. Granting exceptions undermines people’s sense of fairness, and sets a precedent precedent that undermines future policy. In environments where exceptions become normalized, leaders often find that issuing writs of exception—for policies they themselves have designed—starts to swallow up much of their time. Organizations spending significant…

Thanks for posting, ordered a copy just now

Another point of genius is right after the above section on exception debt.

It was in that era of my career that I came to view management as, at its core, a moral profession. We have the opportunity to create an environment for those around us to be their best, in fair surroundings. For me, that’s both an opportunity and an obligation for managers, and saying no in that room with my manager and CTO was, in part, my decision to hold the line on what’s right.

Larson, Will. An Elegant Puzzle: Systems of Engineering Management (p. 123). Stripe Press. Kindle Edition.

Re: Docker Desktop no longer free for large companies

#285
post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You guys (by you guys I mean you and Docker, Inc) would do yourselves a huge favor not spiting the Linux devs who invented the technologies you build your tools on. Where's the Linux version? Give it to me in Snap, AppImage, Flatpak, deb, or rpm, whatever you want. Just offer something. We'll take care of the rest.

Thanks for the feedback. A Linux version is in the roadmap for this fall. I've had several discussions on it in the past week. Part of this was due to priorities and part of it was technicalities. For example, do we put it in a VM so that way someone can easily blow things away and we don't touch the base system? We had to come to some direction on what we wanted to do there. Now that we have that idea we need to fin…

Thanks for the update! It's refreshing to see more turnkey GUI competitors in this space coming from larger corporate names.

Re: Docker Desktop no longer free for large companies

#286
post #235

I'm a bit puzzled what costs and what not, as it is a first time I see "Docker Desktop" name. I use docker on linux, mainly executing "docker build", "docker run", etc. Does it still cost if I do it in a 1k+ company during work?

Docker Desktop is the only way to run Docker "natively" on Windows and MacOS (I say "natively" because it's really using a linux VM behind the scenes.)

So if you're on Linux, nothing has changed (yet).

Re: Docker Desktop no longer free for large companies

#287
post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If someone suggests a tool that costs $1k/yr over a free tool that costs $5k/year in extra work, I’m going to die on the free tool hill. Because the $1k/yr tool will disappear when the company goes defunct, or it won’t interoperate with something else and there is no way of fixing it. Or it can’t migrate to the next tool. Or we need to upgrade to an enterprise license because we become 21 developers instead of 20. Or…

> Free tools have a predictable and stable cost. Unless they suddenly turn from free into a $21/month per person fee.

Then I'll find the fork and use that. We have already done that a few times. There is a reason we audit all the licenses of open source software we have.

Re: Docker Desktop no longer free for large companies

#288
post #275

How do you even install Docker Engine on Windows without WSL2? Same goes for macOS.

If you're referring to Docker Desktop on Windows, you can use the Hyper-V backend instead of WSL2. MacOS uses HyperKit API to spin up a Linux VM to run it. There is no native engine for Windows or MacOS. https://docs.docker.com/desktop/windows/install/

Sure, but I've never seen a non-Docker Desktop installer for any of the tools like the CLI, Compose etc., and I can't seem to find one now either.

Re: Docker Desktop no longer free for large companies

#289

So many people in this thread don’t understand how enterprise decisions get made. The business license costs $21/month, probably less in reality. Do you really think that businesses are going to jeopardize the workflows of their $250k/year assets over a very core piece of software for $250/year? Any alternative has switching costs and risks. Companies will just pay this. I see so many people saying “just do these 10…

What companies are offering $250k/year for engineers?

When you add up salary + benefits + workplace amenities + taxes + software licenses and whatnot, you get there mighty quick.

Re: Docker Desktop no longer free for large companies

#290
post #283

For everyone who is against this change, can you please write up why? For a ton of small companies (anyone making $10 million or less per year) nothing is going to change and DD is still free to use. If you're at a big organization with let's say 200 developers chances are your company makes hundreds of millions of dollars a year. Even Docker's most expensive business plan would cost you 200 * $21 = $4,200 month. Pay…

I'm part of a company that doesn't need to change a thing because of this.

I want to move out of Docker services because of the "The new terms take effect on August 31, 2021" part of the email I've just received, even if it's followed by a "with a grace period until January 31, 2022".

I'm OK with them trying to get money. I'm not OK with them changing things overnight.

Post reply on HN