J27 wrote: "Containers are VMs..."
Uh, what? From Docker: "A container is a standard unit of software that packages up code and all its dependencies so the application runs quickly and reliably from one computing environment to another. A Docker container image is a lightweight, standalone, executable package of software that includes everything needed to run an application: code, runtime, system tools, system libraries and settings."
A CPU VM is a hardware virtual machine, which is supposed to be isolated from everything else by hardware. It is not a package, it is an isolated virtualization of the base hardware.
One is a package. One is hardware. The package requires a host operating system, and does not stand alone. The VM stands alone.
As for makes things easier, well, only if certain vendors decide to keep their crap up to date. I work with AWS CloudHSM. The client packages for that are woefully behind for Ubuntu, and that makes a Docker image for Ubuntu currently useless. I just finished switching our Docker images to be based on AWS Linux, as I'm hoping they will keep their own crap up to date.
Yes, I agree with others, good packaging is something that is overlooked. However, that was something that has been "taught" in the workplace, and when managers with no clue are put in charge, along with "newly-educated" "software engineers" then disaster strikes. Again and again.