Node.js and io.js are merging under the Node Foundation

In short, Node.js is discontinued, but io.js is renamed to Node.js? That sounds reasonable.

I personally preferred the name of "iojs" to "node", but it's true that node's brand is more powerful...

Personally, I think the ruby world really lost something when merb folded into Rails. It left the community split between the one giant framework and many microframeworks, where merb was really something in between. Big enough for real work, but small enough and with a small enough dose of 'magic' (where rails has an absurd amount) that it was still pretty understandable.

Rails became more configurable because of it, but I don't really feel like it ever got smaller or more understandable. That said, I've been out of that game for quite a while, so maybe it eventually did.

But I also don't think it's really comparable because merb wasn't a fork of rails like io.js was of node.js.

I disagree. Having more than one competing implementation following the same standard would have been awesome. How likely it is that they would have followed the same standard rather than each branching off incompatibly is another question entirely...

Don't be an excitement blocker, everyone wants to celebrate, then in the morning we can try to understand what just happened.

But seriously, that is a good question. Maybe we can get an answer when node .12 will be stable as well.

Exactly. For me, the Node.js name is tarnished. The community hit the ground running with io.js and I believe it should have continued down that road. It would have come to replace Node.js in due time.

I think the name Node works better, really. In writing both work fine, but in spoken language it's a bit easier to say/more distinctive in response to the question 'what are you using'.

> I think we have to thank Microsoft for their node fork

Yeah whatever. Microsoft is no threat to FOS server-side solutions like nodejs, given their reputation. Nodejs is its own worse ennemy.

Microsoft's fork is meant to be temporary, experimental fork.

"This GitHub fork enables Node.js to optionally use the Chakra JavaScript engine on Windows 10, allowing Node.js to run on Windows on ARM. Our goal is to merge back into master after stabilizing this code, fixing key gaps and responding to early community feedback."

Their goal is to work on it, stabalize it, and then merge it back in once it's ready for general use. Microsoft's "fork" wasn't trying to split the community or create a permanent new path. It's to build something new for Node.js that shouldn't be in the main project until it's ready. Microsoft wasn't trying to split the community, but rather trying to take on an experimental project.

The io.js/Node.js situation wouldn't have been influenced by Microsoft's announcement. Node.js/io.js didn't necessarily have an intention of reuniting in the future and might have stayed apart. By contrast, Microsoft doesn't intend to split off from Node.js at all.

Never explain anything to recruiters.

That was a fix to PHP's composer system that drastically reduced memory usage.

There is no BDFL any more, so nobody will be replacing him.

There will be a Technical Steering Committee in charge instead.

Some companies just start with node because certain people enforce due to the hype it has.

I'm personally using it for a non-web project, but the most typical use case for it is websites where some chunk of logic has to run on both client and server; this is quite a common scenario and when it arises, Node is the only game in town unless you want to write that code twice in two different languages and then have to maintain the two versions in lockstep. (People have started using the word 'isomorphic' to describe this scenario; one could argue whether that's strictly accurate, but it's close enough to be suggestive at least.)

We're using Node on new apps. Node is still the top choice for sharing code between the client and server. That's a niche case, but a significant niche.

It means that you're going to get more updates. Nothing more, nothing less. The biggest issue with Node under Joyent was the lack of updates.

Yes.

Yep, nw.js runs on io.js as of the 0.12 release in January.

Here's a giant list of people using it: https://github.com/nwjs/nw.js/wiki/List-of-apps-and-companie...

One of the more notable ones is Popcorn Time, the stupid easy to use movie torrent client.

If you have been following the story much, they have handled this situation with great care. Not like high schooler's at all.