Chs. 7 + 8: consider merging containers + microservices (-250 lines) #1918

Problem

Chapters 7 (containerisation, 311 lines) and 8 (microservices, 218 lines) overlap by roughly 40% on service mesh, operations, policy-as-code and observability.

Specific cuts — ch. 7

• 07:7–9 — DELETE the CNCF statistics (already cited in ch. 1 and ch. 8).
• 07:11–25 — SHORTEN the basic "what are containers" material by 60% (too elementary for the target audience).
• 07:41–92 — SHORTEN "guard rails + drift + CI" by 50% (duplicates ch. 5 + ch. 2). Keep the OPA Gatekeeper example; DELETE the Argo CD + drift + CI paragraphs.
• 07:108–291 — CUT dramatically (180 lines with 4 full YAML/HCL examples). DELETE docker-compose (off-topic for orchestration) and Terraform GKE (belongs in the IaC chapter). Keep Deployment, shorten Helm.
• 07:297–301 — SHORTEN the bridge to Part C to 2 lines.

Ch. 7 saving: ~160 lines.

Specific cuts — ch. 8

• 08:3–5 — SHORTEN the filler intro by 50% ("observable, governable, automatable" cliché chain).
• 08:9–21 — SHORTEN the three standard principles by 50% (merge).
• 08:53–84 — DELETE 25 lines of YAML example (duplicates ch. 5 + ch. 7); keep the principles paragraph.
• 08:100–139 — MOVE TO ch. 7 (service mesh + Istio VirtualService belong there) or SHORTEN by 50%.
• 08:141–176 — SHORTEN the AsyncAPI example to 10 lines or DELETE.
• 08:178–180 — DELETE 3 generic compliance lines (belong in ch. 12).
• 08:182–211 — SHORTEN "Operating microservices" by 50% (5 subsections × 3 lines); merge.

Ch. 8 saving: ~93 lines.

Structural decision

There is a clear case for a combined chapter "Container & Microservice platforms" (~250 lines). Service mesh, drift, policy-as-code and observability are covered in both. A decision is needed.

Total saving

~250 lines (or more if merged).

Source

Hard critical review of Parts A & B. See CUT_PROPOSAL.md.