Kubernetes adds an extra layer of abstraction on top of existing ones. When the stack of abstractions grows too large, it can start to feel sluggish and unwieldy.

What if we had something like Kubernetes but at the hardware level? Imagine a single Linux installation running across multiple servers, where resources are seamlessly pooled and managed. In htop, you could visualize all CPU cores, with each core labeled by its corresponding node.

Now, consider starting a container with Podman: the container would execute on the CPU cores of one node. If you start another container, it could run on the cores of a different node. This approach would essentially transform Linux into an operating system capable of spanning a distributed cluster of nodes.

To achieve this, the operating system wouldn’t need to be entirely reinvented—it could simply be Linux, enhanced with the necessary kernel modifications to enable such distributed functionality. This could provide the simplicity and efficiency of a unified OS while leveraging the power of a distributed system. Or maybe it's a pipe dream.