The Next Phase of Node.js

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Isaac Schlueter

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Jan 15, 2014, 12:02:22 PM1/15/14
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Node's growth has continued and accelerated immensely over the last few years.  More people are developing and sharing more code with Node and npm than I would have ever imagined.  Countless companies are using Node, and npm along with it.

Over the last year, TJ Fontaine has become absolutely essential to the Node.js project.  He's been building releases, managing the test bots, fixing nasty bugs, and making decisions for the project with constant focus on the needs of our users.  He was responsible for an update to MDB to support running ::findjsobjects on Linux core dumps, and is working on a shim layer that will provide a stable C interface for Node binary addons.  In partnership with Joyent and The Node Firm, he's helped to create a path forward for scalable issue triaging.  He's become the primary point of contact keeping us all driving the project forward together.

Anyone who's been close to the core project knows that he's been effectively leading the project for a while now, so we're making it official.  Effective immediately, TJ Fontaine is the Node.js project lead.  I will remain a Node core committer, and expect to continue to contribute to the project in that role.  My primary focus, however, will be npm.

At this point, npm needs work, and I am eager to deliver what the Node community needs from its package manager.  I am starting a company, npm, Inc., to deliver new products and services related to npm.  I'll be sharing many more details soon about exactly how this is going to work, and what we'll be offering.  For now, suffice it to say that everything currently free will remain free, and everything currently flaky will get less flaky.  Pursuing new revenue is how we can keep providing the npm registry service in a long-term sustainable way, and it has to be done very carefully so that we don't damage what we've all built together.

npm is what I'm most passionate about, and I am now in a position to give it my full attention.  I've done more than I could have hoped to accomplish in running Node core, and it's well past time to hand the control of the project off to its next gatekeeper.

TJ is exactly the leader who can help us take Node.js to 1.0 and beyond.  He brings professionalism, rigor, and a continued focus on inclusive community values and culture.  In the coming days, TJ will spell out his plans in greater detail.  I look forward to the places that Node will go with his guidance.

Please join me in welcoming him to this new role :)

Stephen Belanger

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Jan 15, 2014, 12:12:30 PM1/15/14
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Thank you all for being awesome community leaders. I look forward to a better, more stable npm and an excellent node 1.0 release! :D

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Alex Kocharin

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Jan 15, 2014, 12:16:58 PM1/15/14
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Hi Isaac,
 
What changes are you planning on npm registry? What services will it provide for money? Will there be any changes to replication?
 
I'm worrying a lot about npm registry being a single point of failure, especially since when npmjs registry was in trouble, nodejitsu was asking for money instead of asking for more public replicas.
 
 
PS: I welcome TJ in the new role, his work is great indeed.
 
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alex
 
15.01.2014, 21:02, "Isaac Schlueter" <i...@izs.me>:
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Tim Caswell

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Jan 15, 2014, 12:39:19 PM1/15/14
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Awesome news!  Congrats to both of you.

Wil Moore

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Jan 15, 2014, 1:05:51 PM1/15/14
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Congrats on the new/official role TJ!

Isaac, I'm glad you will now be able to focus on what you are most passionate about. I'm excited for you.

The Node community continues to be privileged with awesome leadership. Thanks!

Felix Geisendoerfer

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Jan 15, 2014, 1:12:30 PM1/15/14
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Thanks for the update Isaac, and best of look with your new venture.

I've been a bit out of the loop, as I'm not doing much node dev at this point (I do have a nice patch in the works so). Basically I'd like to know who TJ Fontaine works for and if anybody is sponsoring his node work.

I'm merely asking out of curiosity.

Cheers,
Felix

Seth Pollack

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Jan 15, 2014, 1:35:14 PM1/15/14
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Congratulations both of you! looking forward to more good things from both node core and npm. 

Mikeal Rogers

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Jan 15, 2014, 1:36:27 PM1/15/14
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TJ works at Joyent, he has for some time, and was hired specifically to work on node core stuff.

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Poornima Venkatakrishnan

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Jan 15, 2014, 1:38:22 PM1/15/14
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Congratulations Isaac and TJ. Looking forward to lot of awesomeness...!!

Felix Geisendoerfer

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Jan 15, 2014, 1:38:37 PM1/15/14
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On Wednesday, January 15, 2014 7:36:27 PM UTC+1, Mikeal Rogers wrote:
TJ works at Joyent, he has for some time, and was hired specifically to work on node core stuff.

Thanks. As I've said, I'm out of the loop : ).

Cheers,
Felix 

Jacob Groundwater

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Jan 15, 2014, 12:37:30 PM1/15/14
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Congrats TJ Fontaine! 

You've done amazing work for Node, and I have complete confidence you're going to move node in the right direction.




On Wed, Jan 15, 2014 at 9:16 AM, Alex Kocharin <al...@kocharin.ru> wrote:

Joe Hanink

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Jan 15, 2014, 3:29:58 PM1/15/14
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Congrats and good luck with the venture!

Please don't charge for module usage. Perhaps a membership fee or donation structure? Do you know what the commercialization will look like?

Thanks!

Alex Kocharin

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Jan 15, 2014, 4:35:44 PM1/15/14
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Oh gosh, even I with my very low opinion about programming tools with a price tag can't imagine THAT. :)

I guess all that will remain free, only thing I am really worried about is a vendor lock. We kinda saw that already, but it might be worse.


16.01.2014, 00:30, "Joe Hanink" <jha...@gmail.com>:
> Congrats and good luck with the venture!
>
> Please don't charge for module usage. Perhaps a membership fee or donation structure? Do you know what the commercialization will look like?
>
> Thanks!
>
> On Wednesday, January 15, 2014 9:02:22 AM UTC-8, Isaac Schlueter wrote:
>
>> О©╫Node's growth has continued and accelerated immensely over the last few years. О©╫More people are developing and sharing more code with Node and npm than I would have ever imagined. О©╫Countless companies are using Node, and npm along with it.
>>
>> О©╫Over the last year, TJ Fontaine has become absolutely essential to the Node.js project. О©╫He's been building releases, managing the test bots, fixing nasty bugs, and making decisions for the project with constant focus on the needs of our users. О©╫He was responsible for an update to MDB to support running ::findjsobjects on Linux core dumps, and is working on a shim layer that will provide a stable C interface for Node binary addons. О©╫In partnership with Joyent and The Node Firm, he's helped to create a path forward for scalable issue triaging. О©╫He's become the primary point of contact keeping us all driving the project forward together.
>>
>> О©╫Anyone who's been close to the core project knows that he's been effectively leading the project for a while now, so we're making it official. О©╫Effective immediately, TJ Fontaine is the Node.js project lead. О©╫I will remain a Node core committer, and expect to continue to contribute to the project in that role. О©╫My primary focus, however, will be npm.
>>
>> О©╫At this point, npm needs work, and I am eager to deliver what the Node community needs from its package manager. О©╫I am starting a company, npm, Inc., to deliver new products and services related to npm. О©╫I'll be sharing many more details soon about exactly how this is going to work, and what we'll be offering. О©╫For now, suffice it to say that everything currently free will remain free, and everything currently flaky will get less flaky. О©╫Pursuing new revenue is how we can keep providing the npm registry service in a long-term sustainable way, and it has to be done very carefully so that we don't damage what we've all built together.
>>
>> О©╫npm is what I'm most passionate about, and I am now in a position to give it my full attention. О©╫I've done more than I could have hoped to accomplish in running Node core, and it's well past time to hand the control of the project off to its next gatekeeper.
>>
>> О©╫TJ is exactly the leader who can help us take Node.js to 1.0 and beyond. О©╫He brings professionalism, rigor, and a continued focus on inclusive community values and culture. О©╫In the coming days, TJ will spell out his plans in greater detail. О©╫I look forward to the places that Node will go with his guidance.
>>
>> О©╫Please join me in welcoming him to this new role :)

Isaac Schlueter

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Jan 15, 2014, 4:49:24 PM1/15/14
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Thanks, Joe.

On Wed, Jan 15, 2014 at 12:29 PM, Joe Hanink <jha...@gmail.com> wrote:
Please don't charge for module usage. Perhaps a membership fee or donation structure? Do you know what the commercialization will look like?

The future is large, but I can pretty much guarantee that paying for access to open source modules is not ever going to happen.   Not because it's evil (though, I believe is), but because it's stupid. It's just not a good model, and it's not hard to see why.  No one wants to pay it, and rather than deliver value, you're making people go elsewhere.  It is a case of the orchard selling lumber, burning down your value in order to get a short-term gain that can never expand.

Many companies have been literally begging for me to figure out a way to take their money and add some features to npm.  None of this impacts what any of you are currently doing, and in fact, it helps you, because it requires building additional high-availability systems that are robust enough for the *next* 10x increase we face.

Like I said, all that is currently free will remain free, and all that is currently flaky will improve.  There'll be some new stuff you can pay for if you want to use it, but if you're happy with the current status quo, you can just take it easy and maybe eventually get a job where you use npm for work stuff also :)

Arunoda Susiripala

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Jan 15, 2014, 4:53:48 PM1/15/14
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Thanks Issacs for all your hard work and good luck with new company, hope NPM will have a great time.

Good Luck TJ and for the 1.0.

I think Issacs is building a commercial NPM service(much reliable) for the people who can pay for it. (may be heroku, yahoo)
But we'll get what we've used to have + something more.




On Thu, Jan 16, 2014 at 3:05 AM, Alex Kocharin <al...@kocharin.ru> wrote:


Oh gosh, even I with my very low opinion about programming tools with a price tag can't imagine THAT. :)

I guess all that will remain free, only thing I am really worried about is a vendor lock. We kinda saw that already, but it might be worse.


16.01.2014, 00:30, "Joe Hanink" <jha...@gmail.com>:
> Congrats and good luck with the venture!
>
> Please don't charge for module usage. Perhaps a membership fee or donation structure? Do you know what the commercialization will look like?
>
> Thanks!
>
> On Wednesday, January 15, 2014 9:02:22 AM UTC-8, Isaac Schlueter wrote:
>
>>  Node's growth has continued and accelerated immensely over the last few years.  More people are developing and sharing more code with Node and npm than I would have ever imagined.  Countless companies are using Node, and npm along with it.
>>
>>  Over the last year, TJ Fontaine has become absolutely essential to the Node.js project.  He's been building releases, managing the test bots, fixing nasty bugs, and making decisions for the project with constant focus on the needs of our users.  He was responsible for an update to MDB to support running ::findjsobjects on Linux core dumps, and is working on a shim layer that will provide a stable C interface for Node binary addons.  In partnership with Joyent and The Node Firm, he's helped to create a path forward for scalable issue triaging.  He's become the primary point of contact keeping us all driving the project forward together.
>>
>>  Anyone who's been close to the core project knows that he's been effectively leading the project for a while now, so we're making it official.  Effective immediately, TJ Fontaine is the Node.js project lead.  I will remain a Node core committer, and expect to continue to contribute to the project in that role.  My primary focus, however, will be npm.
>>
>>  At this point, npm needs work, and I am eager to deliver what the Node community needs from its package manager.  I am starting a company, npm, Inc., to deliver new products and services related to npm.  I'll be sharing many more details soon about exactly how this is going to work, and what we'll be offering.  For now, suffice it to say that everything currently free will remain free, and everything currently flaky will get less flaky.  Pursuing new revenue is how we can keep providing the npm registry service in a long-term sustainable way, and it has to be done very carefully so that we don't damage what we've all built together.
>>
>>  npm is what I'm most passionate about, and I am now in a position to give it my full attention.  I've done more than I could have hoped to accomplish in running Node core, and it's well past time to hand the control of the project off to its next gatekeeper.
>>
>>  TJ is exactly the leader who can help us take Node.js to 1.0 and beyond.  He brings professionalism, rigor, and a continued focus on inclusive community values and culture.  In the coming days, TJ will spell out his plans in greater detail.  I look forward to the places that Node will go with his guidance.

// ravi

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Jan 15, 2014, 5:05:57 PM1/15/14
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On Jan 15, 2014, at 4:49 PM, Isaac Schlueter <i...@izs.me> wrote:
... you can just take it easy and maybe eventually get a job where you use npm for work stuff also :)


You heard it folks, get that resume dusted, Isaac is hiring. :-) Good luck with your new venture Isaac. And the best to TJ Fontaine.

—ravi

Aaron Heckmann

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Jan 15, 2014, 9:06:11 PM1/15/14
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Congrats guys!
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tom

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Jan 15, 2014, 10:57:58 PM1/15/14
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Congrats TJ Fontaine!

Thanks, Isaac!

Best regards
  Tom
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