However, not only did we need something like this 5 years ago, we needed it to be language/platform agnostic then. We need it more so now. We won't be able to function without it 5 years from now.
The reality is Pandora's box has been opened there is no going back. We have software we need to run in production at scale that is written in a multitude of languages. We have our Python/Perl monitoring systems talking to our Java search APIs talking to our NodeJS frontend APIs talking to our legacy C#/Java/C++ applications over messaging systems written in Erlang/Ruby/Java/Go.
Every single one of these platforms need this functionality and everything needs to run in a cutthroat environment with fewer people, resources, and money to manage it.
We need performance, discoverability, security, scalability, deployability, testability, reliability and most importantly EASY. Not enterprisey over-engineered bullshit. I mean real easy to use plug and play, simple APIs, minimal JSON/YAML, small focused tools simple.
We need to do it in a way that is portable to every cloud provider so we can get the best bang for our buck and keep the cloud providers honest and avoid lock in.
We need to do it in a way that makes the "hardware" vanish. We don't want to manage hardware anymore. We want to deploy our software and we want to know it will work and we don't want to compromise functionality (ala Google App Engine or being forced into the "Tomcat 7" box).
I applaud this line of thinking, but I don't think it goes far enough. In 5 years time, I don't think we'll deploy servers anymore. We'll deploy services and those services will be in whatever language and those services will find each other and communicate with each other over the network and will be reliable, secure, and scalable.
Most importantly, it needs to be open. Truly open. We don't want to trade one master for another.
That's the software I would like to see. This could be a foundational component of something like this, but it's only the beginning.
I know about CoreOS/Docker/Mesos/Marathon, etc. Tools like those are an important piece of this puzzle, but not the only piece. They are a vast improvement over past initiatives (cough openstack cough), but they too are only a step in the right direction. We still have a lot of work to do to realize this vision of the future.