I'm not trying be argumentative, but I honestly don't see how you conclude that 7.5x more packages === 7.5x more usuable.
I don't have a huge amount of experience with pip or artisan, but they seemed roughly similar to both rpm and bundler in terms of concept and operation. You have a file with a list of modules to require, an executable tool that downloads all of those modules and their dependencies and finally a generated file that tracks the snapshot state of all dependencies.
I don't perceive npm bringing 7.5x game to that evaluation.
Don't get me wrong: I'm thrilled that it's working for so many people. Java was officially working for people when Rails became popular, too. However, popularity is a dangerous way to measure whether something is actually objectively better. Sometimes the most popular thing really is better. And sometimes Putin is super popular. It's complicated. :)
I don't have a huge amount of experience with pip or artisan, but they seemed roughly similar to both rpm and bundler in terms of concept and operation. You have a file with a list of modules to require, an executable tool that downloads all of those modules and their dependencies and finally a generated file that tracks the snapshot state of all dependencies.
I don't perceive npm bringing 7.5x game to that evaluation.
Don't get me wrong: I'm thrilled that it's working for so many people. Java was officially working for people when Rails became popular, too. However, popularity is a dangerous way to measure whether something is actually objectively better. Sometimes the most popular thing really is better. And sometimes Putin is super popular. It's complicated. :)