The rapid rise of Docker and its containerization technology has proponents of virtualization quaking in their boots, and there may be good reason.

While no one is denying that virtualization is powerful, it does have its downsides. The biggest one is that every app requires its own operating system, and that adds complexity and overhead.

Containers allow IT folks to wrap each application inside its own independent bit of virtual hardware while sharing just one underlying operating system. The approach is far less complex and time consuming that creating umpteen virtual machines.

Most enterprises with a sizable number of servers are happy to virtualize, but the recent trend among software-as-a-service players like Google is to containerize everything instead. Google’s low sysadmin/server ratio has caught the eye of virtualized organizations, including the big daddy of virtualization itself, VMware, Inc.

The latest hint that VMware is taking notice comes from this patent, turned up by The Register. Titled “Techniques for performing virtual machine software upgrades using virtual disk swapping”, the patent acknowledges that updating applications has become a laborious and pain-staking task and that the strain of multiple virtualized machines seeking updates at the same time can drag down network performance and even cause failures.

VMware’s patent suggests that a new way to handle multiple updates for virtual machines and operating systems is to create a ‘virtual disk’ of all the desired updates, and then point VMs at the latest version of the software. The concept is similar to how VMware handles client operating system updates for virtual desktops. While not exactly groundbreaking, it sounds like a more efficient way to manage legacy apps in an increasingly software-defined world.

But for now it’s still just an idea. VMware only applied for the patent last year and the patent has only just been published. Nevertheless, the document does at least show that VMware is taking notice of the simplicity Docker has introduced and is trying to do something about it.

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