6 ms·

Node.js coming to Windows, Azure with official Microsoft support

48 points by ignifero 15y ago

1sdfsd 15y ago
I think everyone is overreacting to this announcement, they are just lending a hand with IOCP to Ryan as he finishes up his abstraction layer in 0.5.x. Just like they denoted some offifical resources to PHP, Ruby, Python, jQuery etc..
- chrisbuc 15y ago
  For me, it's more the fact that MS have officially acknowledged the existence of node.js within a windows platform that matters, rather than any particular work they may or may not be doing.
  - 1sdfsd 15y ago
    Yeah that makes sense, the 43 media reports out there at the moment are just silly, if you look at github the abstraction layer introduced in 0.5 was pretty far along, bringing on some inside help is obviously a good thing but FFS lets no overdrama this.
- forgotAgain 15y ago
  Agreed, it would be worthwhile to remember the history of IronPython and IronRuby.
- baudehlo 15y ago
  And they entirely funded the port of Perl to Windows, pretty much starting ActiveState in the process (it was called HiP Communications at the time).
chrisbuc 15y ago
This is great news as it should raise adoption amongst Windows users (and customers who have their infrastructure based on windows systems) My only worry is that hopefully MS won't take it, customise it heavily, and we end up with two competing, slightly incompatible implementations. Be strong, Joyent.
- ignifero 15y ago
  I dont believe Joyent has vested interests in Node.js, even though they are supporting the project. They are running a cloud hosting service (and my joyent servers don't even have node.js installed).
  - bjg 15y ago
    Part of Joyent's product line is the Node.js Smart Machine. http://www.joyentcloud.com/products/smart-appliances/ http://www.joyentcloud.com/products/smart-appliances/
chrisjsmith 15y ago
Now no-one can afford node.js too! (Azure is extremely expensive compared to say EC2 feature-wise).
- upthedale 15y ago
  It's and apples and oranges comparison though. For those that like their acronyms, Amazon's service is infrastructure (IaaS) whereas Azure abstracts more aware providing a platfrom to build on (PaaS)
  - dumbphone 15y ago
    Exactly - Azure is more like Google App Engine than AWS.
  - leerpm 15y ago
    Though they advertise & promote Azure as PaaS, you can actually use it for IaaS. They offer a Virtual Machine role which is the rough equivalent of an EC2 instance. I think most folks go the PaaS route though.
    - upthedale 15y ago
      Very true. It is my understanding though that the primary use case of the VM role is to allow legacy applications to sit in the cloud without needing to rebuild for the Azure platform.
    - balakk 15y ago
      VMRole still isnt IaaS, since it doesn't have the equivalent of EC2's EBS backed instance storage. The Azure drive is close, but still not the same. So if you need persistence on the instance storage, you'll still have issues. I hear it's coming though.
    - chrisjsmith 15y ago
      My point entirely. My company uses IaaS to develop SaaS platforms or are they PaaS. Hmm. Sounds like bullshit. I'd love to see a Venn diagram that actually defines these marketing terms. IMHO computers is computers.
keithnoizu 15y ago
Node.js is that some new erlang rip-off.
pasbesoin 15y ago
I didn't use it, but I recall that some years ago, MS's JScript was considered by some to be quite useful -- until the divergences became an issue and/or MS whacked it in favor of pushing VBScript or whatever. MS has a history with JS beyond just annoying people with IE.
hugorodgerbrown 15y ago
Given MSFT's history of doing their own thing rather than supporting the community alternative, this seems like a really strange decision; particularly as they have the potential to build a great competitor product using .net async features (http://lorgonblog.wordpress.com/2010/03/28/f-async-on-the-server-side/ http://lorgonblog.wordpress.com/2010/03/28/f-async-on-the-se...). Building JScript in parallel to JavaScript back in the 90s was a dumb idea, but forgoing their own toolset to support node.js is equally misguided. They should concentrate on educating .net developers on how to compete with the non-msft development community using the .net platform to bring them to productivity / toolset parity, and fostering open-source .net projects.

48 points by ignifero 15y ago

I think everyone is overreacting to this announcement, they are just lending a hand with IOCP to Ryan as he finishes up his abstraction layer in 0.5.x. Just like they denoted some offifical resources to PHP, Ruby, Python, jQuery etc..

chrisbuc 15y ago
For me, it's more the fact that MS have officially acknowledged the existence of node.js within a windows platform that matters, rather than any particular work they may or may not be doing.
- 1sdfsd 15y ago
  Yeah that makes sense, the 43 media reports out there at the moment are just silly, if you look at github the abstraction layer introduced in 0.5 was pretty far along, bringing on some inside help is obviously a good thing but FFS lets no overdrama this.
forgotAgain 15y ago
Agreed, it would be worthwhile to remember the history of IronPython and IronRuby.
baudehlo 15y ago
And they entirely funded the port of Perl to Windows, pretty much starting ActiveState in the process (it was called HiP Communications at the time).

chrisbuc 15y ago

This is great news as it should raise adoption amongst Windows users (and customers who have their infrastructure based on windows systems) My only worry is that hopefully MS won't take it, customise it heavily, and we end up with two competing, slightly incompatible implementations. Be strong, Joyent.

ignifero 15y ago
I dont believe Joyent has vested interests in Node.js, even though they are supporting the project. They are running a cloud hosting service (and my joyent servers don't even have node.js installed).
- bjg 15y ago
  Part of Joyent's product line is the Node.js Smart Machine. http://www.joyentcloud.com/products/smart-appliances/ http://www.joyentcloud.com/products/smart-appliances/

chrisjsmith 15y ago

Now no-one can afford node.js too! (Azure is extremely expensive compared to say EC2 feature-wise).

upthedale 15y ago
It's and apples and oranges comparison though. For those that like their acronyms, Amazon's service is infrastructure (IaaS) whereas Azure abstracts more aware providing a platfrom to build on (PaaS)
- dumbphone 15y ago
  Exactly - Azure is more like Google App Engine than AWS.
- leerpm 15y ago
  Though they advertise & promote Azure as PaaS, you can actually use it for IaaS. They offer a Virtual Machine role which is the rough equivalent of an EC2 instance. I think most folks go the PaaS route though.
  - upthedale 15y ago
    Very true. It is my understanding though that the primary use case of the VM role is to allow legacy applications to sit in the cloud without needing to rebuild for the Azure platform.
  - balakk 15y ago
    VMRole still isnt IaaS, since it doesn't have the equivalent of EC2's EBS backed instance storage. The Azure drive is close, but still not the same. So if you need persistence on the instance storage, you'll still have issues. I hear it's coming though.
  - chrisjsmith 15y ago
    My point entirely. My company uses IaaS to develop SaaS platforms or are they PaaS. Hmm. Sounds like bullshit. I'd love to see a Venn diagram that actually defines these marketing terms. IMHO computers is computers.

keithnoizu 15y ago

Node.js is that some new erlang rip-off.

pasbesoin 15y ago

I didn't use it, but I recall that some years ago, MS's JScript was considered by some to be quite useful -- until the divergences became an issue and/or MS whacked it in favor of pushing VBScript or whatever. MS has a history with JS beyond just annoying people with IE.

hugorodgerbrown 15y ago

Given MSFT's history of doing their own thing rather than supporting the community alternative, this seems like a really strange decision; particularly as they have the potential to build a great competitor product using .net async features (http://lorgonblog.wordpress.com/2010/03/28/f-async-on-the-server-side/ http://lorgonblog.wordpress.com/2010/03/28/f-async-on-the-se...). Building JScript in parallel to JavaScript back in the 90s was a dumb idea, but forgoing their own toolset to support node.js is equally misguided. They should concentrate on educating .net developers on how to compete with the non-msft development community using the .net platform to bring them to productivity / toolset parity, and fostering open-source .net projects.