cgroups and namespaces anchor Linux containers, isolating resources and processes like gatekeepers with a mission. On macOS and Windows, these containers ride in VMs with WSL2 or LinuxKit, putting on their "welcome to the virtual world" hats. Enter runC, executing OCI-built images with isolation flair, while containerd strides in, running containers without deep kernel surgery, thanks to a handy gRPC API. Now meet Podman, which shuns daemons and says, "I'll do it myself," enhancing security while drawing a line between mere mortals and daemon-dependent Docker. When juggling multiple hosts, behold Kubernetes, the conductor orchestrating deployment and managementβa rock star for microservice architecture fans. Then, there are Distroless imagesβthrill-seeking minimalists, stripping to vital bits to boost container size and performance. And for those longing for the future now? WASM containers cleverly exploit Docker runtimes, embracing platform-agnostic, browser-friendly antics like it's their destiny.
