Docker: Why use Linux containers on Windows?

Docker is not about virtualization but more about isolation.

A windows container will run on a windows host

A linux container will run on a linux host

Then some people wanted to run linux container on windows

• First you needed to create a linux vm on windows to run the container
• Now you can use LinuxKit to run the container but it's still a light VM

Then some people wanted to run windows container on linux

• First you needed to create a windows vm on linux to run the container
• Now you can use nothing more as of today

So the best bet is to start with a container aimed at your production servers

If you want to deploy to linux I would advise using linux containers since you then test a more similar setup and are more likely to find issues that will also show in your final deployment.

Other than that linux container technology is more mature and better supported than windows containers.