Overview
The article starts with the rise and fall of Java EE, then it goes through the rise and fall of (SOAP/XML based) web-services, and finally it lands on the current hot topic of containerized deployments.
It's perhaps a bit of dry writing, however it boiled down the situation quite nicely. (Although I might be extremely biased...)
Highlights
That finally brings us to the latest frontier: Containerized running of software in the cloud! The initial advancement and popularization of containers rank as one of my favorite milestones of progress in our industry. But damn if the merchants of complexity didn't see such simplicity as a bug to quickly correct, and use their impressive tractor beam of bullshit to pull us back towards the ever-reconstructing Death Star once more.
Needless to say, I had the same feeling when the containerization technology started to be developed. Once upon a time there was Linux VServer or OpenVZ, then I've stumbled-upon LXC and the future looked promising...
Then everybody jumped on the Docker bandwagon, and lately jumped once more to the Kubernetes shipping-cargo... (But that's an article for another time...)
Again, I'm certain that there are good ideas hidden inside the advancement of Kubernetes, and the mushrooming of tools, services, and standards that are following in its wake, but the ratio of bullshit is also already completely out of whack.
Hmm... I don't believe things are so dire as he says... There are perhaps only a handful of core technologies! Thus to prove my point, let's look at the latest CNCF (Cloud Native Computing Foundation) landscape:
OK... That was (un-)expected...
The complexity that's been conjured up is immensely profitable. The renewed demand for advanced degrees in enterprisey gibberish is propelling the same expansion of jargon, specifications, and techniques as we saw with J2EE and WS-DeathStar. This is what this industry does!
Got to run! Got to polish my resume with the latest and greatest "cloud-native" technologies...