It's zero-configuration Node hosting, for permanent lightweight microservices or temporary Node projects that need to be accessible online.
In other words, it's as close to uploading PHP files to a server that you'll get with Node.
For people wondering, the creator is Guillermo Rauch, who is behind Socket.io and LearnBoost (the company that brought us Express, Mongoose, Stylus, Jade, etc... basically the entire Node stack)
Why not just buy a VPS and set it up yourself, it's just more convenient for some people.
https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-set-...
This is basically the problem `now` is solving... "what if Node was as easy as PHP?"
That's not inherent to PHP. It's just how most hosts are set up. The only major difference is the order in which things are done (and the necessity to have shell access to the host.)
The real comparison is this:
# PHP # 1. Install a server 2. (Possibly optional) Install a process manager 3. (Possibly optional) Configure the process manager 4. Configure the server 5. Start the server 6. Upload files
# Node # 1. Install Node 2. Upload files 3. Start the server
1) `apt-get install php5 apache2`
2) upload index.php
3) There is no step 3
> You literally just stole some of my life. he absolutely did not! You decided to spend time investigating what now is, he did not steal anything from anyone.