Glen Creaser

Pros and Cons of Developing Hardware vs Software... Go!

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There are most certainly strong opinions on both sides, and there are many obvious pros and cons that jump out at a first glance. I want to hear some things that aren't so obvious, or you wouldn't think about right away. I'm excited to hear from everyone on this topic!

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James Quinn
Great question!
Ilia Pikulev
As per the question, I am trying to outline the LEAST obvious ones :) Hope the below ones qualify as such: Hardware pros: + Investors are usually visual fellas, so, as long as you have images of your prototype, it's easier to get their involvement; + You can participate in home/car/plane/etc. shows to promote your product; + Hardware usually uses standards which are robust and reliant and tested for years; Hardware cons: - Hardware developer needs to think about security, as the hardware might be easily hijacked; - In certain situations, the hardware might depend on too many external factors (current, connection, humidity, temperature, shakes/hits, etc.); - Hiring a hardware developer in your team is usually expensive; Software pros: + You can collect stats easier/faster/more detailed/etc. + More documentation on the Internet (not only manuals, but also articles, 'Stack overflow' questions, etc.) because of the bigger community; + Big employees base as there are more software graduates than hardware ones; Software cons: - In software, there is no standard how to create an API, so if you use many of those, you will need to spend a significant amount of time to connect all of them together; - There is more attention to user interface design needed in software (usually because there are more controls in software than on hardware... Usually...); - Software developers should faster react to the changes in the worlds as the competition is usually high in their niche;