Kubernetes is not the point — Betty Junod

🌈 Abstract

The article discusses the evolution of the container ecosystem, particularly Kubernetes, and how the focus has shifted from the technology itself to the underlying purpose and user experience. It highlights the need to re-focus on the actual problems being solved and the specific application patterns and user needs, rather than getting caught up in the constant innovation and complexity of the ecosystem.

🙋 Q&A

[01] Kubernetes and the Container Ecosystem

1. What was the initial philosophy behind the container ecosystem, and how has it evolved?

• The article states that the container ecosystem was born out of the PaaS era, with philosophies like Heroku's 12-factor app and Pivotal's "Here is my code. Run it in the cloud. I do not care how." These platforms provided a great developer and operator experience, without the headaches of building and maintaining the platform.
• However, the rise of containers and Kubernetes led to a new set of questions and concerns around grouping containers, communication, deployment, scheduling, orchestration, and security, requiring a rethinking of how to address these in a dynamic and ephemeral environment.

2. How did the open-source nature of the container ecosystem impact its development?

• The article mentions that the great innovation of the CNCF was that much of the experimentation and innovation was out in the open, leading to tipping points in areas like storage, networking, and security, and the emergence of standards and project maturity stages.
• However, the rapid introduction of new projects and debates between different technology approaches made it difficult for end-users to decide which technologies to choose and build their enterprise architecture on.

[02] The Shift Back to Platform Thinking

1. What led to the complexity and over-engineering in the container ecosystem?

• The article suggests that the excitement over the new components and the desire to be "engineering-led" or "innovative" led many IT organizations to piece together their own platform from open-source puzzle pieces, which required an engineering culture that many companies were not prepared for.
• This resulted in a complexity that often bogged down teams with lifecycle and integration management, rather than supporting the actual goal of getting apps built and deployed to production.

2. How is the industry now shifting back towards a platform-centric approach?

• The article mentions the rise of "Internal Developer Platform" or "Platform Engineering" as a way to return to the original spirit of PaaS, where the focus is on providing a streamlined developer experience, rather than exposing the underlying complexity.
• This shift is also seen in the growing popularity of more abstracted solutions like CloudRun and Serverless, where end-users are less fixated on the underlying Kubernetes-based stack and more focused on getting to the desired outcome faster.

3. What is the key message regarding the future focus of the container ecosystem?

• The article emphasizes the need to re-focus on the purpose of the platform, understanding the specific application patterns and user needs, rather than getting caught up in the constant innovation and complexity of the ecosystem. The goal should be to match the right platform, services, or mix of technologies to the actual problems being solved.