Hi Ben I'm not Michael but I also have a opinion to this points.
With Docker it is possible to extend the FW much more without having to build all the Addons you like to play around (e.g. nginx, pmacct, transmission, tvheadend, etc..) It makes thinks much easier.
Such as with the libvirt / qemu addon. I use it and like it! In my opinnion we don't need another virtualization tool.
For that a fast filesystem is usefull which is provided in newer kernels (overlayfs). The currently used Kernel is close to its EOL.
Yes, I also think the kernel should be updatet.
- Daniel