ref(README): add simpler intro
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-It is no secret that although microservice environments enable portability, faster and more frequent deployment cycles and even simpler organizational structure via specialized teams, they also increase the complexity of deployments, make it harder to debug existing applications and secure applications in dynamic environments at scale. Using a [service mesh][1] reduces some of the operational burden of microservice environments with a single, dedicated layer of infrastructure for managing service-to-service communication.
+Open Service Mesh (OSM) is a lightweight, extensible, Cloud Native [service mesh][1] that allows users to uniformly manage, secure, and get out-of-the-box observability features for highly dynamic microservice environments.
-The Open Service Mesh (OSM) project is a light weight, envoy based service mesh for applications running in Kubernetes and is compatible with [Service Mesh Interface (SMI)][2]. The OSM control plane is a set of components installed in a single namespace in Kubernetes and also comes with command line tool called `osm`. Once an application is added to the mesh, OSM installs an Envoy proxy as a sidecar container next to each instance of the application (inside each application Pod in Kubernetes) which then manages all traffic to and from the application. Once the proxy is configured, users have fine grained control on service to service communication and visibility and consistency of metrics for debugging and monitoring without having to touch application code. OSM aims to be simple to install and run while empowering end users with the following features:
+Guided by 4 core principles:
+1. Simple to understand and contribute to
+1. Effortless to install, maintain, and operate
+1. Painless to troubleshoot
+1. Easy to configure via [SMI][2]
-1. More easily manage deployments and transparently manage deployments. OSM enables various deployment strategies (Canary, A/B testing) for applications running on Kubernetes.
-1. Secure service to service communication by enabling mTLS and fine grained access control policies.
-1. Get simple to understand and consistent insights into application metrics for debugging and monitoring.
+## Overview
+
+OSM runs an Envoy based control plane on Kubernetes, can be configured with SMI APIs and works by injecting an Envoy proxy as a sidecar container next to each instance of your application. The proxy contains and executes rules around access control policies, implements routing configuration, and captures metrics. The control plane continually configures proxies to ensure policies and routing rules are up to date and ensures proxies are healthy.
+
+Features of OSM:
+1. More easily and transparently configure traffic shifting for deployments
+1. Secure service to service communication by enabling mTLS
+1. Define and execute fine grained access control policies for services
+1. Observability and insights into application metrics for debugging and monitoring services
1. Integrate with external external certificate management services/solutions with a pluggable interface.
1. Onboard applications onto the mesh by enabling automatic sidecar injection of Envoy proxy.
-Note: This project is a work in progress. See the [demo instructions](demo/README.md) to get a sense of what we've accomplished and are working on.
+_Note: This project is a work in progress. See the [demo instructions](demo/README.md) to get a sense of what we've accomplished and are working on._
## OSM Design
