Today is the third birthday of the Docker containerization system and to celebrate the company is launching a beta program for Mac and Windows versions of its software.
It offers an integrated, easy-to-deploy environment for building, assembling, and shipping applications from Mac or Windows as well as having many improvements over Docker Toolbox.
Docker for Mac and Windows doesn't need a dedicated machine, making life easier for developers and providing easy access to running containers on a local host network. It includes a DNS server for containers, and is integrated with the Mac OS X and Windows networking system. On a Mac, Docker can be used even when connected to a corporate VPN.
Docker for Mac can be used at the same time as Docker Toolbox on the same machine, allowing developers to continue using Toolbox as they evaluate Docker for Mac. On Windows systems you need to stop Toolbox before using Docker for Windows.
"The Docker for Mac product has addressed all of these issues for us, installation has been significantly smoother thanks to the native Mac application and autoupdater. Official images now 'just work' with the Mac and the new development workflow allows engineers to quickly spin up new versions of services and develop software natively on the Mac against them, with everything just working", says Mat Clayton, Co-founder of Mixcloud, one of the few companies to have tried the software in private beta.
If you're interested in joining the beta program you can sign up to receive an invitation on the Docker website. Docker for Mac and Docker for Windows are at different stages of development, although they do share a significant code base. Docker for Windows will initially be rolled out to users at a slower pace but will eventually have the same functionality as Docker for Mac. Docker for Windows currently only ships on Windows 10 editions that support Hyper-V.