I find it super amusing that GCE isn't mentioned, that ostensibly Kubernetes is the source of lock-in (despite being open-source and likely having more cycles on EC2 than on GCE/GKE), and that this proudly uses gRPC for http/2 and protobuf goodness. So which is it, is Google an evil vendor trying to lock you in, or are we actually doing work in the open and just hoping you'll choose us when you want infrastructure?
Disclaimer: I work on Compute Engine, and think of the Kubernetes folks as friends.
You are reading way too much into this. We're introducing orchestration in Docker because it solves a problem for our users. We haven't called your employer or anyone else "evil", and frankly this announcement is not about Google or any other company. It's about improving Docker for its users.
Speaking personally, I think GCE is a great product, Docker wouldn't exist without Go, and although grpc is not my personal favorite, it gets the job done and it's quite popular with Docker engineers. The libcontainer project (now runc/containerd) started with a very fruitful collaboration between Docker and Google engineers. The current Docker networking model is also heavily based on early feedback from the Kubernetes team (one IP per container, remove nat between containers, etc.)
Yes, some features of Docker overlap with other products. One of those products is Kubernetes but there are dozens of others. That kind of healthy competition is normal and good for users!
Disclaimer: I work on Compute Engine, and think of the Kubernetes folks as friends.