It seems to me you would be the one cutting off your nose to spite your face in this scenario.
I understand (in some way) the decision Docker made but I am not sure it is the way-to-go. However, it is a very hard question and if I had to pay a monthly fee for each component I‘m using to develop a solution, one or the other project would not even start because it‘s not worth it anymore.
Or put another way, how much time would you need to replicate what Docker offers for a team of 50 people? If it takes more than 25% of the time of a single employee, then Docker is cheaper (assuming your employee costs $5000 a month, which I guess is a lower bound for an engineer).
I think it is a very valid question how to monetize Docker (and all the other libraries we are using for free), but I am personally not sure that subscriptions to everything are the solution.
I am sure that this expense should not get into your way if you have 50+ engineers, however if you think that with all expenses…
How does this affect consultants that want to introduce docker to large corporations but small teams? A lot of scenarios become crappy now.
Which alternatives did they kill? The Podman tool ecosystem is doing fine and is closing in on being a complete replacement, and Docker Swarm hasn't exactly killed k{number}s.