You are correct on Google self-interest in the matter. Not so sure that Google's self-interest is so divergent from the average developer interest.
Kubernetes is hard to run by oneself. Worse, self-cobbled setups are also hard to run by oneself. Distributed systems, that is systems that require uptime and/or more than one computer, are hard.
The fact of the matter is that computing is the new electricity. While one can run oneself's own generator in the backyard, it is more efficient to buy electricity from a big provider, small-scale solar notwithstanding.
Kubernetes offers a well designed abstraction that simplifies managing distributed systems at most scales. Bonus, it has become a shared standard among providers of computing. That is a big step beyond proprietary lock-in abstractions [AWS, etc.], and likely close to the best one can hope for, technically speaking. Economically, perhaps a future solution is regulating computing providers as utilities.
Kubernetes is hard to run by oneself. Worse, self-cobbled setups are also hard to run by oneself. Distributed systems, that is systems that require uptime and/or more than one computer, are hard.
The fact of the matter is that computing is the new electricity. While one can run oneself's own generator in the backyard, it is more efficient to buy electricity from a big provider, small-scale solar notwithstanding.
Kubernetes offers a well designed abstraction that simplifies managing distributed systems at most scales. Bonus, it has become a shared standard among providers of computing. That is a big step beyond proprietary lock-in abstractions [AWS, etc.], and likely close to the best one can hope for, technically speaking. Economically, perhaps a future solution is regulating computing providers as utilities.