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Last month, Rod Vagg looked in the rearview mirror and pondered on the question of whether the schism and reconciliation of Node.js and io.js was worth the trouble (“Was This Trip Really Necessary”). Spoiler: yes.

This month, we look ahead and consider the future of Node.js whose destiny is now intertwined with that of the newly announced Node.js Foundation. NodeSource is pleased to announce our participation in the Node.js Foundation as a Gold Member. Rod Vagg and Trevor Norris will represent NodeSource as members of the Technical Steering Committee.

We believe there are some bottom-line issues that are driving the key discussions in the Node.js Foundation.

Leadership

How does one establish leadership for a global technology community that represents the largest and fastest growing package ecosystem ever created? After a contentious few months of trying to answer that question from two separate angles, the ultimate conclusion is that the Node.js Foundation is the framework, and leadership will come from contributors at all levels.

With the creation of the Node.js Foundation, the Node ecosystem and community is ready to sprint forward with essential contributions from individual Node.js committers from across the globe as well as from corporate leaders like IBM, PayPal and Microsoft.

Contribution and Community

One of the driving factors that accompanied the successful formation of the Node.js Foundation was a collective agreement that the leadership and governance of Node should reflect the value of a unified community. The converging Node.js and io.js communities can be satisfied that they have been able to establish a respectful, constructive way forward for individual Node developers and commercial powerhouses alike. Furthermore, the open and collaborative approaches to development pioneered in the io.js project have been imported wholesale to the Foundation as we seek to place the future of Node in the hands of those who contribute their time and talents.

NodeSource has been a voice advocating on behalf of the enterprise while continuing to embrace the incredible creativity and passion that emanates from the Node community at large. Our sense is that as the Node community begins to acclimate to this new reality under the Node.js Foundation, we can continue to celebrate both the remarkable individuals that have brought so much innovation to Node, and the enterprise organizations that can help scale the platform to new heights.

One Node = Limitless Possibilities

If there were some tense moments of uncertainty in the Node community a few months ago, then today’s announcement marks a key milestone for the vast progress that lies ahead for Node.js. We have witnessed large scale retail systems survive the terrors of black friday with zero downtime. We’ve seen a systematic unbundling of companies, applications and infrastructure, using Node.js as a key tool. We’ve witnessed the beginning of a great dismantling of ponderous, monolithic applications and code bases. We’ve seen a billion and a half node packages downloaded from npm in a single month.

If there was any loss of momentum this year for Node.js, that time has passed. The creation of the Node.js Foundation is a milestone that signals a vibrant, strengthened community, a unified market direction, exciting promotional opportunities and a proven technology architecture that is rewriting the rules for application development. These are exciting times for the Node community and NodeSource is thrilled to be a part of it.