What is kubernetes operations (kops) project?

If you visit Kubernetes Operations (kops) (https://github.com/kubernetes/kops) project, the first sentence you'll read is that it is "the easiest way to get a production-grade Kubernetes cluster up and running." In my humble opinion, that sentence is accurate only if we exclude Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE). Today (February 2018), other hosting vendors did not yet release their Kubernetes-as-a-service solutions. Amazon's Elastic Container Service for Kubernetes (EKS) (https://aws.amazon.com/eks/) is still not open to the public. Azure Container Service (AKS) (https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/services/kubernetes-service/) is also a new addition that still has a few pain points. By the time you read this, all major hosting providers might have their solutions. Still, I prefer kops since it provides almost the same...