This is not the first time that JavaScript has been used for server-side programming. Netscape launched Netscape Enterprise Server in 1996, which allowed server-side programming in JavaScript. Since then, many servers, such as RingoJS (http://ringojs.org/), Persevere (http://www.persvr.org/), Mozilla's Rhino-based servers, and others have tried to follow suit.
A major reason for these servers not being taken seriously was the pitiful performance of the JavaScript VMs used by them. JavaScript performance in browsers was also not very good. That was until Google launched its Chrome web browser.
At the time of its launch, Chrome's JavaScript VM, called V8, was almost 10-20 times faster than any other JavaScript VM, and has since then been the fastest.
It was based on this VM that Ryan Dahl developed Node.js in 2008. He wanted to build a server that would enable and empower real-time interactive web applications like Gmail. But Node.js was not the first server he built...