[Margh]

Ryan Dahl (ry) the creator of node.js started working for Joyent during its early development.

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/nodejs/lWo0MbHZ6Tc

Edit: just noticed a delicious bit of prescience from isaacs in the thread:

  Right.  And if Joyent is a douche, they're going to find
  themselves empty-handed, as the node community will find a 
  new champion.

[ukigumo]

Thank you.

[cpeterso]

btw, "io" was apparently Ryan's first choice for a project name before "node".