Meteor JavaScript framework hits Windows
"The one group that was left out [when version 1.0 launched late last year] were developers who use Windows, which is about half the total market of developers," said Matt DeBergalis, co-founder of the Meteor project and vice president at Meteor Development Group, which oversees the technology. Developers who used Windows as their primary development platform and wanted to leverage Meteor had to do so either via a virtual machine or some other complicated solution.
This meant that support for Windows has been the most-requested feature by far, with thousands of developers asking for it, DeBergalis said in an interview. While Windows developers can use any tools they want with Meteor, plans call for deeper integration with such technologies as Microsoft Visual Studio IDE and Microsoft's Azure cloud.
Meteor provides a platform for using JavaScript as a development language all the way from development to delivery. Developers get a single JavaScript code base for every platform while using JavaScript and HTML skill sets, and the MongoDB 3.0 support extends the popular NoSQL database onto devices themselves.
A developer who has used Meteor sees the addition of Windows and MongoDB 3.0 support as expanding outreach to more developers. "Windows support opens up a huge community of developers who haven't gone Mac or Unix, it's a lot more than you'd guess by visiting a coffee shop in a startup neighborhood," said developer Ry Walker. "As with any network effects product, Meteor becomes stronger the larger the community, and both Windows and MongoDB 3.0 are big moves to attract more developers."
Meteor, Walker said, offers "the simplest possible, yet fully powered 'gateway drug' into modern JavaScript development. And on the recruiting side, it attracts the best developers, who are usually on the leading edge of technological advancement."