Docker is still open-source; it still has all the same features; it has the same maintainers and contribution roles; it has the same roadmap of features. And we still welcome pull requests.
Meanwhile we have been breaking the components of Docker into standalone upstream projects: containerd, swarmkit, libnetwork etc. So there are more and more ways to use parts of Docker without being forced to use all of it. We will continue doing that.
Is there any detailed fear that you can describe? I will do my best to reassure you.
The situation could turn into something reminiscent of using non-RHEL/CentOS Linux in the enterprise before Ubuntu became popular. Using Debian and need drivers from a vendor? Here's an RPM! Convert it to a .deb, extract it yourself, hope it doesn't have scripts that'll break your install and that the paths work properly. Oh wait this is for a specific patched kernel that RHEL ships, now I have to go get the source and build it myself, but it only ships as patches to a kernel source tree of theirs.
Ubuntu's widespread support helped, and then the advent of VMs made it so that you could hypervisor your hardware and then not have to worry about support in your various OSes. And then vendors started shipping VM images (e.g. AeroFS), but only if you're using a supported virtualization solution (we support both ESIx and HyperV!). Now we have containers, and we can ship customized environments, stripped down and devoid of anything the app doesn't need, but how long until vendors start shipping those containers with assumptions about either the host or the environment/tooling that only works for the people who pay extra?
To use a bit of a biased argument, I've been told by several infrastructure VCs that the infrastructure market is currently difficult to invest in because of the uncertainty the technology behind it has brought us. I don't trust that continued traditional investments behind producing those infrastructure offerings are a rational choice for users. However, at the end of the day, only the users can speak to that claim. I can only speak my mind on the matter.
Unfortunately, it's difficult to trust a service or software built on closed technologies because seeing inside the service or software becomes difficult, expensive or impossible. The combination of desired outcomes (easy infrastructure) and risk bias (implied trust) presents itself as a dangerous one because leads to cognitive dissonance where the market must literally believe two things at once: We have to TRUST this service or software because We NEED this service or software.
I'd prefer we all work together to solve these conflicted views with "enterprise" software offerings, especially those involved in building infrastructure, but my observations say that we are more likely to not work together because of existing investment structures. Perhaps this will change over time as new models emerge. For now, I remain sceptical at best about the way we're investing and growing the infrastructure market.
Echoing @shykes below[1], Docker had premium paid products before this launch, but we're trying to make that clearer and to simplify the product lineup.
Note that Docker CE is _just_ as good as the Docker you were using yesterday. In addition, the version lifecycle improvements are designed to get new features into Docker users' hands faster (with monthly Edge releases) and to improve maintainability by overlapping the maintenance windows of free Docker CE quarterly releases.
I would note this is a non-apology, given it's stating you are "sorry" someone doesn't like a decision that was made.
The concern is that the Docker CE we'll be using in 2020 will be missing useful features that Docker EE has, and which vendors who ship containers/Dockerfiles for their products will rely on.
Now, it's not clear to us in the public HOW MUCH of Docker (the software project)_would fall into that category. From the outside, it appears that there is a lot of community around the infrastructure, and somewhat less community around the higher layers (e.g. SwarmKit).