[yazriel]

Setting aside the effects of hype, hipness and herd -iness..

Are you asking about the language or the platform ??

The usual argument for node vs java (for example) is that node has many small libraries (really code sniplets) which are instantly usable. So a lower activation energy!

As far as platform, the technical merits of a JVM are so much down the road so as to be completely meaning less at the critical early stages.