I'm like 90% sure I read the w10 start menu is a javascript UWP app so I would imagine they're fairly committed to aligning their JS/uwp apps with the node world, and with node and browsers working to bring the module ecosystem together it's all shaping up to be one happy family...

With Node's growing popularity, could you expect any different? Google and Apple compete on the cloud and node is very important there. By getting involved in the process, Microsoft keeps themselves from being at the mercy of Google's choices. Apple doesn't because Cloud is a much smaller part of their business (though native node on iOS and OSX would be very nice to have). Mozilla was also working on that, but I guess it's even less of a priority for them since they appeared to drop everything

But that's my point, is that I expected MS to stand it up, get it like 50-80% working, then drop it. It's happened a lot of times:

* nashorn - started off as a reimplementation of node APIs in java's JS engine, died around 2015 for this purpose

* rhinodo - same as the above, never really got anywhere. no change since 2015

* spidernode - mozilla's take on it, looks like most development started and ended 2 years ago, with only superficial changes since then.

* node-jsc - still being developed, but it's only a few months old, and still isn't even fully caught up to node's version 8 APIs.

The ground is littered with failed attempts at this, and I think that is because it's always a LOT more work than people think, and the work doesn't just stop when you get it running, it keeps going. And you either need a crazy amount of dedication, a wide audience, or a lot of funding to keep it up. And it's hard to stay dedicated without users, it's hard to get an audience when stuff doesn't work, and it's hard to keep funding when the work isn't providing any immediate benefit for your company.

Don't get me wrong, I don't want to dissuade or put down developers working on those projects, I think it's an extremely awesome thing that's well above my ability and I hope that they continue so one day we can see competition in the server-side-javascript space similar to how we see competition in the browser space to really drive innovation. But this stuff isn't easy, and it is really nice to see a company say they are going to build this, then actually put their money down and fund it. And on top of that they are adding new features, new developer niceties, and actually working to make it a viable option, not just a checkbox and a pat on the back for giving it a good try.