Microsoft and Docker doesn’t make enough sense:
Over at Fortune, Barb Darrow and Jonathan Vanian speculate on rumours that Microsoft might be sniffing around containerisation champion Docker.
Docker has, of course, denied the rumours.
But, more importantly, the acquisition just doesn’t make enough sense to justify the multi-billion dollar valuation. The project is open source. The community is (mostly) tied to Docker the project, not Docker the company. There are increasingly credible alternatives to Docker itself, all of which would see a bump in adoption if the current front-runner (Docker) went to Microsoft.
A Microsoft acquisition of Docker (the company) may eventually benefit Docker (the community), but it does Docker (the company) no good at all. It also doesn’t really help Microsoft.
What may be more credible is an IBM-style investment. DockerCon is just around the corner. It would not be inconceivable for Microsoft to announce some big partnership or joint effort, to better align the world of non-Windows containers with Redmond’s own fledgling efforts in that direction. That partnership would almost certainly involve some injection of cash. But not an acquisition.
Of course, just because it doesn’t appear to make sense doesn’t mean that it won’t happen. But if it does happen, it’s still a silly idea. Even if we all then write pieces that pick out the few glimmers of positivity we can find.
(Cross-posted @ Paul Miller)
