github.com/ld86/docker@v1.7.1-rc3/docs/misc/index.md (about)

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     3  title = "About Docker"
     4  description = "Introduction to Docker."
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    10  
    11  # About Docker
    12  
    13  **Develop, Ship and Run Any Application, Anywhere**
    14  
    15  [**Docker**](https://www.docker.com) is a platform for developers and sysadmins
    16  to develop, ship, and run applications.  Docker lets you quickly assemble
    17  applications from components and eliminates the friction that can come when
    18  shipping code. Docker lets you get your code tested and deployed into production
    19  as fast as possible.
    20  
    21  Docker consists of:
    22  
    23  * The Docker Engine - our lightweight and powerful open source container
    24    virtualization technology combined with a work flow for building
    25    and containerizing your applications.
    26  * [Docker Hub](https://hub.docker.com) - our SaaS service for
    27    sharing and managing your application stacks.
    28  
    29  ## Why Docker?
    30  
    31  *Faster delivery of your applications*
    32  
    33  * We want your environment to work better. Docker containers,
    34        and the work flow that comes with them, help your developers,
    35        sysadmins, QA folks, and release engineers work together to get your code
    36        into production and make it useful. We've created a standard
    37        container format that lets developers care about their applications
    38        inside containers while sysadmins and operators can work on running the
    39        container in your deployment. This separation of duties streamlines and
    40        simplifies the management and deployment of code.
    41  * We make it easy to build new containers, enable rapid iteration of
    42        your applications, and increase the visibility of changes. This
    43        helps everyone in your organization understand how an application works
    44        and how it is built.
    45  * Docker containers are lightweight and fast! Containers have
    46        sub-second launch times, reducing the cycle
    47        time of development, testing, and deployment.
    48  
    49  *Deploy and scale more easily*
    50  
    51  * Docker containers run (almost) everywhere. You can deploy
    52        containers on desktops, physical servers, virtual machines, into
    53        data centers, and up to public and private clouds.
    54  * Since Docker runs on so many platforms, it's easy to move your
    55        applications around. You can easily move an application from a
    56        testing environment into the cloud and back whenever you need.
    57  * Docker's lightweight containers also make scaling up and
    58        down fast and easy. You can quickly launch more containers when
    59        needed and then shut them down easily when they're no longer needed.
    60  
    61  *Get higher density and run more workloads*
    62  
    63  * Docker containers don't need a hypervisor, so you can pack more of
    64        them onto your hosts. This means you get more value out of every
    65        server and can potentially reduce what you spend on equipment and
    66        licenses.
    67  
    68  *Faster deployment makes for easier management*
    69  
    70  * As Docker speeds up your work flow, it gets easier to make lots
    71        of small changes instead of huge, big bang updates. Smaller
    72        changes mean reduced risk and more uptime.
    73  
    74  ## About this guide
    75  
    76  The [Understanding Docker section](introduction/understanding-docker.md) will help you:
    77  
    78   - See how Docker works at a high level
    79   - Understand the architecture of Docker
    80   - Discover Docker's features;
    81   - See how Docker compares to virtual machines
    82   - See some common use cases.
    83  
    84  ### Installation guides
    85  
    86  The [installation section](/installation/#installation) will show you how to
    87  install Docker on a variety of platforms.
    88  
    89  
    90  ### Docker user guide
    91  
    92  To learn about Docker in more detail and to answer questions about usage and
    93  implementation, check out the [Docker User Guide](/userguide/).
    94  
    95  ## Release notes
    96  
    97  A summary of the changes in each release in the current series can now be found
    98  on the separate [Release Notes page](/release-notes/)
    99  
   100  ## Licensing
   101  
   102  Docker is licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0. See
   103  [LICENSE](https://github.com/docker/docker/blob/master/LICENSE) for the full
   104  license text.
   105