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Docker Desktop no longer free for large companies

theregister.com

161–170 of 597 posts

Re: Docker Desktop no longer free for large companies

#161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. This makes sense. USD 21 per user/month + bulk discount is nothing. If companies want to roll their own they can, but most won't. Docker Desktop adds a lot of value if only by removing the hassle for quick os-agnostic development.

What is the value add for Docker Desktop? In a world where podman exists, what's the point of docker on dev machines anyway?

Well, I hadn't heard of podman until now, and I imagine I'm not the only one. Does it consistently have functional parity with docker?

Re: Docker Desktop no longer free for large companies

#162
post #26

Overall if they want to charge for their product that's fine. I just hate the model of release free or really permissible application, wait for widespread adoption, then tighten clamp. For what it's worth they've lost my business there.

It used to be called shareware.

Re: Docker Desktop no longer free for large companies

#163
post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I want to coin it as “embrace, extend, extort.”

Very accurate for a lot of companies like this lately. Consider it coined.

Nah, newer generations rediscovering the concept of shareware and trial/demo versions.

Re: Docker Desktop no longer free for large companies

#164

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…

The places where I worked there's an inverse relationship - the smaller the cost, the harder it is to justify with finances. ($4000 monthly AWS bill for "testing purposes"? No questions asked. $10 wireless mouse? Mission impossible!)

Exactly. Cost is a proxy for importance (usually). I can’t be bothered to approve your $10 mouse, but I can be bothered to approve your $10k AWS budget.

Re: Docker Desktop no longer free for large companies

#165
post #13
post #5

Note that Docker Desktop and Docker Engine are separate products. Docker Desktop is the desktop application package that makes Docker user-friendly on macOS and Windows. Docker Engine, the container runtime itself, remains free: > No changes to Docker Engine or any upstream open source Docker or Moby project. If you develop on Linux, no changes are needed.

How would that work if you're using WSL? Docker for Desktop uses WSL but creates it's own separate VM (if you can call it a VM). Would I be able to install and run Docker inside Ubuntu's WSL distro to avoid paying for Docker for Desktop?

Enable WSL2, then you can just install the docker provided by your distro package manager. For example, I am using docker packaed by Arch Linux, and it works as expected.

If you need to use `docker` command under Powershell, maybe exposing docker socket to Windows host would probably work. I didn't try it as I don't need it.

Re: Docker Desktop no longer free for large companies

#166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a better idea. How about you look at EVERY open ticket, starting with those from paying customers? EDIT: Wow, they actually did this and got back to me - thank you!

if they're smart they just looked at all the 10 day old tickets

maybe 10 +/-1 for time zones

Re: Docker Desktop no longer free for large companies

#167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. This makes sense. USD 21 per user/month + bulk discount is nothing. If companies want to roll their own they can, but most won't. Docker Desktop adds a lot of value if only by removing the hassle for quick os-agnostic development.

What is the value add for Docker Desktop? In a world where podman exists, what's the point of docker on dev machines anyway?

Docker for Mac includes a Kubernetes cluster that’s way better than minikube etc.

Not sure the bare docker daemon VM wrapper has a defensible moat though. Maybe this does more in Windows?

Re: Docker Desktop no longer free for large companies

#168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is the value add for Docker Desktop? In a world where podman exists, what's the point of docker on dev machines anyway?

Well, I hadn't heard of podman until now, and I imagine I'm not the only one. Does it consistently have functional parity with docker?

I use it on my Fedora dev machine and it's pretty good. Still wouldn't replace a mission critical machine with it, as it isn't the primary target for docker containers to run on and it can break more easily.

Re: Docker Desktop no longer free for large companies

#169
I don't get it. There still seems to be a free version, which includes bundled docker engine, right? I think this is the only part of docker desktop that most devs need. Private repos were always a paid feature AFAIK.

The concerning text written is "Limited image pulls per day". What's the limit here?

Re: Docker Desktop no longer free for large companies

#170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey sorry about that, can you send me the ticket details justin @ docker.com and I can look into it.

Fwiw, while there probably isn't a _good_ public relations response here ... N=1, when I see a company publicly managing escalation via public shaming, it inclines me to steer purchasing decisions away from them in the future.

My thought as well.

If I have to tweet-storm to get someone to look at my support ticket, there is no real support.

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