I think this says a lot about Google, from the intro:
"The first time I heard about Node.js I thought, What a crazy guy he's trying to put JavaScript on the server when everybody is trying to put Java on the client"
Personally, I stopped trying to put Java on client in the mid-90s.
I think the comment was very Google specific. A couple of example projects there are GWT, which compiles Java into JavaScript, and Android, which uses the Java language compiled into Dalvik byte-code. In both cases, the Java language is being used although they aren't attempting to place or use Java (tm) VMs on the client site.
"The first time I heard about Node.js I thought, What a crazy guy he's trying to put JavaScript on the server when everybody is trying to put Java on the client"
Personally, I stopped trying to put Java on client in the mid-90s.