There is no additional charge aver and above the normal Azure compute charges (I'm the PM for this work in Azure)

We're glad you think that, we work hard ;-) I hope you also saw that we are open sourcing ACS Engine, the code we use behind the scenes. This means that if we are lacking in any areas (nobody is perfect right) you can help us fix that. See http://gitub.com/Azure/acs-engine

The correct link should be https://github.com/Azure/acs-engine :)

It is true that there is no update path at this time. Our focus is on ensuring the software runs best on Azure. Upgrading a container service is a complex affair with different users wanting different experiences. With the open sourcing of ACS Engine (also part of this same announcement) we are providing a channel through which users can work with our team to define optimal upgrade strategies that will eventually be rolled into the service itself.

We (MS) are one of over 60 partners that Mesosphere worked with to open source DC/OS. No convincing required :-)

As Corey says, Windows Server Containers are not yet supported in ACS. It is coming though.

Windows Server Containers have existed since the release of Windows Server 2016 TP4 and you can try that out on Azure if you want to experiment with early code. See https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/virtualization/windowsconta...

DISCLAIMER: I work for MS as the PM on the Azure Container Service