> the popularity that Docker gained seems to highlight that perhaps something was missing from those older technologies.
I would put money on it being the Dockerfile and the developer UX around that.
I don't honestly find it any more slick to use than e.g. FreeBSD jails, but I've lived in unix for long enough that that's because I was re-using lots of knowledge I already had.
There's a comparison here to the fact that I'm perfectly comfortable writing SysV rc scripts (though BSD rc scripts are vastly more pleasant to put together) but I've watched enough people struggle their way to something that only mostly worked that I can see why for many people writing a systemd unit file instead is a vast improvement.
I would put money on it being the Dockerfile and the developer UX around that.
I don't honestly find it any more slick to use than e.g. FreeBSD jails, but I've lived in unix for long enough that that's because I was re-using lots of knowledge I already had.
There's a comparison here to the fact that I'm perfectly comfortable writing SysV rc scripts (though BSD rc scripts are vastly more pleasant to put together) but I've watched enough people struggle their way to something that only mostly worked that I can see why for many people writing a systemd unit file instead is a vast improvement.