Kubernetes is pivotal in modern infrastructure by revolutionizing how applications are developed, deployed, and managed, particularly through the use of containers. This blog series explores its impact, with the first part focusing on Next-Generation Application Development. The evolution from bare metal hardware to virtualization in the early 2000s, spearheaded by VMware, set the stage for the rise of containers, which offer increased flexibility, scalability, and efficiency compared to virtual machines. Containers package application code and dependencies, allowing them to run across various infrastructures without concern for the underlying environment, thereby facilitating microservices and a DevOps approach. This approach accelerates development and reduces inter-team dependencies. Containers are lightweight, allowing multiple instances to run on the same hardware, and are easily shared for testing and collaboration, offering ease of use similar to, yet more efficient than, virtual machines. The subsequent parts of the series will delve into container orchestration and how Kubernetes manages workloads.