The New Stack Podcast

#143: A Skeptical Look at Kubernetes

Episode Summary

The “eco-” part of the term “ecosystem” has the same root as both “ecology” and “economy.”  It’s hard to build anything that’s designed to be economically self-sustaining, around a core product that’s essentially free. You’ve heard Apcera CEO Derek Collison sound such warnings before.  As readers of The New Stack will recall, Apcera produces a premium container management platform that lets customers deploy applications across clouds. In an InfoWorld interview published last month, Collison turned up the heat, suggesting to Matt Asay that Kubernetes may have value as an ecosystem core only to companies with a direct interest in it, such as Google.  But Google will inevitably improve its Cloud Platform business model around APIs, Collison said, creating efficiencies that steer the customer around Kubernetes.  And when that happens, the lifeline to the Kubernetes ecosystem could get pinched. Learn more at: https://thenewstack.io/analysts-apcera-ceo-derek-collison-flip-side-kubernetes/

Episode Notes

The “eco-” part of the term “ecosystem” has the same root as both “ecology” and “economy.”  It’s hard to build anything that’s designed to be economically self-sustaining, around a core product that’s essentially free. You’ve heard Apcera CEO Derek Collison sound such warnings before.  As readers of The New Stack will recall, Apcera produces a premium container management platform that lets customers deploy applications across clouds.

In an InfoWorld interview published last month, Collison turned up the heat, suggesting to Matt Asay that Kubernetes may have value as an ecosystem core only to companies with a direct interest in it, such as Google.  But Google will inevitably improve its Cloud Platform business model around APIs, Collison said, creating efficiencies that steer the customer around Kubernetes.  And when that happens, the lifeline to the Kubernetes ecosystem could get pinched.

Learn more at: https://thenewstack.io/analysts-apcera-ceo-derek-collison-flip-side-kubernetes/