> Docker is really cool! Everyone is talking about Docker!

Stupid MS. They should have known that they cannot think that anything developed outside MS is cool. We have a cult thing going here, and MS you are not invited!

> We at Microsoft like Docker, too! (But Docker obviously screws us pretty hard, since the whole ecosystem is built around the Linux kernel. Windows isn't great at this type of isolation.)

No, they are saying that OS virtualization is a necessity for Azure, and that they've adopted the Docker container format because it applies equally well to Linux, Windows or any other operating system. There is nothing inherent Linux about Docker, and there is certainly NOTHING tying it to the Linux kernel, contrary to your claim. But they should have known that they are not welcome in the cult, so they should have developed their own container format?

> We don't like being left out of the Docker container party, so we're going to create _two_ things that are Almost As Good As Docker Containers!

No - they are creating Docker containers for Windows which is equivalent to Docker containers for Linux, using the same format, the same API and allowing for existing tools to be used. Is that bad?

And they are also creating a specialized Virtual Machine capable of hosting a single container so that we can decide at deployment time whether we want a) higher density but less isolation or b) lower density but higher isolation. Which - to be honest - makes perfect sense, as that decision is mostly about trust of the environment in which you deploy and should not in any way affect how the container is developed and packed.

> (1) A new package format, "Windows Server Containers," that we're calling a container, even though it doesn't actually offer containment. Containers can mess with other containers.

They are called containers because it is Docker containers. Containers are a way to ship configured applications with minimal concern about the configuration of the host. They isolate your application from specifics on the host, including isolation from what else is running on the host.

The security concerns about containers (yes Linux containers as well) are well understood. Containers share the operating system, and thus there is a higher risk of cross-container contamination compared to virtual machines (VMs).

Contrary to your Linux cult view, security of (Linux) containers is not perfect. As Mark Russinovich points out, a simple privilege escalation (seen any of those lately, hmm?) could allow complete cross-container compromise.

Mark Russinovichs comments about trust of the environment makes perfect sense. Make sure you trust the containers running on your system. If you developed those yourself or obtained them from a trusted source - fine. If they are controlled by some less trusted entity, then assume that they - or someone who comprimises them - could be hostile and try to gain access to other containers.

> (2) The same old Windows Server virtual machines, but we're going to call them "Hyper-V Containers." Yeah, they're just VMs. Separate kernels in memory and all of that.

You misunderstand the point. Yes, the Hyper-V container is based on existing virtual machine technology. Nothing new there. The point is that you can use such a single-container VM as an alternative target at deployment time.

If you develop an application (say, a website) and package it as a container, you can deploy it to a container-aware OS. But if you are deploying it alongside untrusted containers, you'll want a higher degree of isolation, regardless of OS. That's where Hyper-V containers comes in.

> We know neither of these offer what you wanted. But good news! You can use the same container format for _both_ of these new almost-a-container systems.
Yikes.

It is exactly what a lot of us want. It may not be what the cult wants, but let's be honest here: Microsoft could never produce anything the cult would want.

Take a cue from Linus Torvalds and get a cure for your Microsoft hate disease. Containers are cool, and they offer great value, also on Windows. Be proud that a technology popularized on Linux also proliferated to Windows - that is if you had anything to do with.