Ask HN: Is software creation more fashion than rational?

Let's try this example.

Think about navigation websites before Google Maps. Think about it after Google Maps.

Look at Node.js. Build a time machine, go back to the past before Google Maps. Tell people about Node.JS. Now go think what their response would have been.

Javascript has pretty much existed for a while. People knew about the language. They had a chance to test it. The major specification of Javascript was there for all to see.

So why did people change their opinion on Javascript? How did people who previously hated Javascript and all it stood for all of a sudden change their minds to the language when everything about the language was there for all to see?