Docker faces public outcry as Docker for Mac and Windows can be downloaded only via Docker Store login

5 years ago, Docker was the talk of the town because it made it possible to get a number of apps running on the same old servers and it also made packaging and shipping programs easy. But the same cannot be said about Docker now as the company is facing public disapproval on their decision to allow Docker for Mac and Windows only to be downloaded if one is logged into the Docker store.

Their quest for  "improving the users experience" clearly is facing major roadblocks.
Two years ago, every bug report and reasonable feature request was "hard" or "something you don't want" and would result in endless back and forth for the users. On 02 June 2016, new repository keys were pushed to the docker public repository. As a direct consequence, any run of “apt-get update” (or equivalent) on a system configured with the broken repo will fail with an error “Error https://apt.dockerproject.org/ Hash Sum mismatch.”

The issue affected  ALL systems worldwide that were configured with the docker repository. All Debian and ubuntu versions, independent of OS and docker versions, faced the meltdown.

It became impossible to run a system update or upgrade on an existing system.

This 7 hours interplanetary outage because of Docker had little tech news coverage. All that was done was a few messages on a GitHub issue.

You would have expected Docker to be a little bit more careful after the above controversy, but lo and behold! Here , comes yet another badly managed change implementation..

The current matter in question

On June 20th 2018, github and reddit were abuzz with comments from confused Docker users on how they couldn’t download Docker for Mac or Windows without logging into the docker store. The following URLs were spotted with the problem: Install Docker for Mac and Install Docker for Windows

To this, a docker spokesperson responded saying that the change was incorporated to improve the Docker for Mac and Windows experience for users moving forward. This led to string of accusations from dedicated docker users. Some of their complains included-

 Source: github.com

       Source: github.com

   Source: github.com

The issue is still ongoing and with no further statements released from the Docker team, users are left in the dark.

Inspite of all the hullabaloo, why choose Docker?

A report by Dzone indicates that Docker adoption by companies was up 30% in the last year. Its annual revenue is expected to increase by 4x, growing from $749 million in 2016 to more than $3.4 billion by 2021, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 35 percent.

So what is this company doing differently?

• It’s no secret that Docker containers are easy to deploy in a cloud. It can be incorporated into most DevOps applications, including Puppet, Chef, Vagrant, and Ansible, which are some of the major languages in configuration management.
• Specifically, for CI/CD Docker makes it achievable to set up local development environments that are exactly like a live server. It can run multiple development environments from the same host with unique software, operating systems, and configurations.
• It helps to test projects on new or different servers.
• Allows multiple users to work on the same project with the exact same settings, regardless of the local host environment.
• It ensures that applications that are running on containers are completely segregated and isolated from each other. Which means you get complete control over traffic flow and management.

So, what’s the verdict?

Most users accused Docker’s move as manipulative since they are literally asking people to login with their information to target them with ad campaigns and spam emails to make money.
However, there were also some in support of this move.

Source: github.com

One reddit user said that while there is no direct solution to this issue, You can use https://github.com/moby/moby/releases as a workaround, or a proper package manager if you're on Linux.
Hopefully, Docker takes this as a cue before releasing any more updates that could spark public outcry. It would be interesting to see how many companies still stick around and use Docker irrespective of the rollercoaster ride that the users are put through. You can find further  opinions on this matter at reddit.com.

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