[Touche]

I would say more correctly that NPM doesn't keep track of the version, not that it isn't able to. Many git tags are version numbers, NPM just doesn't parse them.

[Navarr]

PHP's Composer does this properly, so it's surprising that NPM doesn't.

[xorcist]

Not really. Nobody would need private modules if it did, and they need some monetization strategy.

[joesb]

I would say tying language's main package installer capability to monetary need of the company hurts how I will node/npm as a stable platform.

Imagine if RubyGem/PythonPackage/NuGet goes with this stragtegy.