We're separating the upstream open-source project, and the downstream open-source product under 2 different names, because a lot of people in the open-source community asked us to.

It's a common concern in the free software community that having an open-source project too tightly coupled to a single company's product is a bad thing. Moving the upstream open-source project into Moby, and keeping the downstream open-source product into Docker, solves that problem.

I for one think it's fantastic that you were open to modeling the project in this way. It seems to me that there is a lot of hostility thrown at Docker in this thread because people assumed the worst based on a comment in a pull request. This is a good thing for Docker and a good thing for the Docker community and containerization in general.

> We're separating the upstream open-source project, and the downstream open-source product under 2 different names

I think a lot of the confusion comes from the downstream product split between Docker CE and Docker EE.

Many people are waiting for the other shoe to drop, because the point of releasing a separate binary version for 'CE' and 'EE' versions is very vague if the products are identical, with the extra EE functionality not really being necessary since it can be added via external services like DDC or plugins for LDAP authentication.

Is Docker EE also open-source?

Breaking out core Docker into components sourced in an external project like Moby makes it easier for you to replace the OSS components of Docker EE one piece at a time with your own private, closed-source versions where the paid development is focused.

So you get Docker CE which pulls all components entirely from Moby, then you get Docker EE which starts off identical. Then at some point you fork an individual Moby component, add some enterprise feature, and Docker EE now pulls from this. Docker EE is now a variant that's "mostly" open source with that one closed component. This component is focused and optimized for enterprise for a bit, then the same thing is done with a different component.

Rinse, repeat. "Docker EE" drifts away from its open source roots and over time loses resemblance to the original project while still taking advantage of the brand that's been built and maintained by thousands of contributors. Essentially, it's a way to co-opt an open-source product.

That's the source of my initial misgiving, anyway.

I get it, you're a business and you want to make money. Just stop being coy about Docker EE and Docker CE continuing to be identical except for the 'support and certification' mentioned in the Docker EE announcement.

Docker EE already works the way you describe. DDC is now part of Docker EE, which makes EE quite different from CE.

I want to address your concern but don't really understand what it is. What exactly are you worried will happen, and how does it affect you?

> I want to address your concern but don't really understand what it is.

Really?

It's a question of ethics. You must surely get that?

Wouldn't it be better to leave the open source project where it was, and move the product elsewhere?