Am I the only one that thinks that Windows support was not really worth the time? Sure, you get to support a huge chunk of the OS market, but what are the real implications of Node running natively on Windows?
Microsoft funded the work. My guess is since they're pushing for JS client-side apps now with WinRT; they funded node on Windows so that JS developers can run their server-side code on Windows instead of being tempted to fire up a *nix server instead.
(AFAIK, MS doesn't have any server-side JS tooling similar to node at the moment. Very good chance that I'm wrong, though.)
JScript.NET was dropped for .NET 4.0; it has always been a bit of a curiosity though. I think it was there because "classic" ASP had support for doing server-side scripting in JScript, so somebody thought ASP.NET needed to support it also. Thankfully, there are a few alternative JavaScript implementations on .NET such as IronJS.
Wow.. yeah, who would want Node on Windows? Whats the point. LOL. The sad thing is, that is probably the default perspective. Basically what's going on is status quo bias -- its the same thing with dying. There's nothing you can do about it so you learned to accept and love that Node.JS doesn't work on Windows. Who would want to live forever? Dying is great! Or you just don't want to have anything to do with Windows or something. People are amazingly stupid. I'm sorry, but its just stupidity to react that way.
"Sure, you get to support a huge chunk of the OS market" <-- This is a big deal.
Most businesses run Windows. I want my Node.JS software to run on most business servers or workstations without requiring a VM or something. Same with most PCs.
The implication is that I can provide Node.JS-based software to an additional 400 million or so people. That means that I can write my software for Node.JS and not have to write a different version for Windows or ignore 400 million people.
For example, say I built an online database application builder type thing where users can build forms using drag and drop and configure database search screens and reports easily. What a lot of my users really want is to have complete control over their database and application. They don't want to have to rely on my server or their internet connection always being on to access their business data.
With good Windows support, I can build my application in Node.JS, and provide a setup bundle that users or IT people can use to install the user's database application on a Windows server.
Seems pretty obvious that this is a big advantage.
