> This is just so not true. You can literally launch talos and have an N node cluster in about 10 minutes 9 of which is waiting for downloads, configs, etc. 1 min of configuration. It’s just that easy.

I agree, OP's points contrast with reality. Anyone can whip out a Kubernetes cluster with COTS hardware or cheap VMs within minutes. Take Canonical's microK8s distribution. Do a snap install to get a Kubernetes node up and running, and run a command to register it in a cluster. Does this pass nowadays as rocket science?

With established cloud providers its even easier.