

 Ask HN: Is innovative hardware basically dead? - jmilinion

Except for Apple, the military, a few smaller companies - I'm having a very difficult time finding any hardware startups or innovation companies that even matches that of the software world.<p>Yes, there's massive hardware efforts by the Dell and HP of the world but it's boring incremental stuff to keep the status quo.  Nothing that will disrupt the world.  Unlike my software brethrens who can choose between Google, Facebook, or thousands of innovative startups - finding innovative hardware companies is akin to roaming the Sahara looking for water.<p>What's going on?  I want to go out and create but it seems so dead around here.
======
rbanffy
If you want to build a personal computer, you'll probably need to make it
Windows compatible. If not for other reasons, because users actually want
Windows software. With that restriction in place, it's very hard to be really
innovative.

Multiprocessors only became mainstream when Windows XP became mainstream. I've
used two and four CPU machines under NT and Unixes, but they would hardly be
mainstream (even if they were not much more expensive than top-of-the-line
single-processor PCs). And, under Windows, a dual 200 MHz machine was much
smoother than a single 400 MHz one.

The same goes for 64-bit machines. On the Unix side of the fence (which was
also the RISC side), 64 bits were useful mostly for the extra memory. Having
more than 4 gigs of RAM was outrageous until relatively recent times and the
demand for larger address spaces was somewhat smaller than the one for more
processing power but, again, it wasn't until Windows XP started supporting
them that AMD64 processors became common. And the only reason it didn't follow
the Itanium family is because it could pretend to be a 32-bit x86 well enough
to fool Windows-based software.

Before we get innovative computers like we did in the 80's and early 90's, we
need to get rid of the assumption a PC is a machine that runs Windows.

------
xyzzy123
I guess it depends on what you do or don't think is innovative.

With stuff kinect, leap motion, glass, Oculus rift, tons of UAV platforms,
bitcoin mining asics (just kidding :), software defined radio, home
robotics... I think the consumer hardware space is more interesting than ever.

Applications are always "incremental" in the sense that you are generally
finding marketable uses of existing sensors and technologies. But then again I
don't see what I would call "truly innovative" software that often either...

~~~
jmilinion
Innovative products always appear but I'm looking for companies which have a
mantra for creating them and who are willing to grow beyond the "hobby" or
"lifestyle support" phase.

------
mschuster91
I would not sign that, see the Raspberry Pi and its growing ARM based
competition. This is the real innovation field, x86 has mainly halted, IMO
mainly because of the backwards compatibility requirements.

~~~
jmilinion
Yes, it's an innovative product but the company behind it is being held
together by masking tape. They doesn't seem interested in going much further
than they are.

------
TheAntipodean
Have you considered applying to product design companies like Ideo?

