The first cross platform container engine desktop graphical user interface is back.
- New website https://container-desktop.com/
- Github repo https://github.com/iongion/container-desktop
- Microsoft Store digitally signed/verified/virus scanned/human tested executable https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9mtg4qx6d3ks
Now with its own domain name, new name, same old name, MIT license, no telemetry, no tracking and some fun joke of pricing:
- Personal - includes support for all popular container engines in any configuration imagined, the price is 0 (zero) for a single developer with as many personalities as one can heave
- Pro - Everything in personal, plus unlimited everything - price is now 0 (zero) per month
Team - Everything from pro but now 0 per user per month, up to 100 users - then 0 (zero) for the rest of the born and unborn people / ai / bots of the perceivable and unperceivable world
- Business - Everything from Team - with a slight shift of price - 0 zero
- Unlimited / Universal / Starship Enterprise - At everyone's discretion!
Don't take the list above seriously, it is just making fun, the project is totally free and open source.
## Here are the most notable remarks about what changed over the last 2 years
- Refactored connection system to allow any container engine combinations imagined
- podman is the driving engine and podman is prioritized and considered as requirement. You can now connect to podman, docker, in VMs, in WSL/LIMA/COLIMA and even SSH as long as it is properly configured.
- To avoid onboarding procedure for the impatient user - it tries to detect all by itself. Normally it should just work for GUI users, power users can define their own connections or assume control like The Borg using CLI/sockets/pipes/APIs/libpod directly.
- Released to Microsoft Store - because they have a decent one-time only fee, unlike others, this was achievable to help colleagues and friends have verified / secure and easy available installations on their machines. Microsoft did wonders with WSL and brought fun back too for developers.
- Added privacy policy (due to submission in the store)
- Changed name (also due to submission in the store )
- Too many UI improvements and bugs fixed worth mentioning
## Next steps
- Add UI metaphors for all that is offered by podman cli and libpod api
- Be free and have fun
## Questions for the curious
- What made get back to it ? - Time and recent changes again, just like 2 years ago.
- Are you aware there is a Podman Desktop - No! (of course I am. It is very good actually for all the features it offers, it is unmatched)
- Are you aware there is a container-desktop - Now yes, but actually for this one I wasn't until MS approved my project as they rejected it when I submitted it for the first time with its original name, mentioning it was too close to Podman Desktop, which it was indeed, even if it was first. It was a hasty and sad decision.
- Is it dead ? is it alive ? - It is Heisenberg! If you use it, it is alive, if you don't, it is not so alive.
- Why do you like it ? - I am having fun, it helps my colleagues/students/friends understand non-superficial inner workings of containers - in the end, they jump away and use the CLI anyway! At least it gives them more visibility and understanding of containers, without assimilating outdated synonyms.
- Is it better than A / B / C - Yes, of course! (joke, who cares ?)
Cheers and have fun too!
