HPB : Why you’re missing out
https://medium.com/@pattympat/hpb-why-youre-missing-out-a957833a0d7b

“If Hardware is so important, why don’t other projects do it?”, “If HPB is open source, what prevents people from stealing the BOE and using it for their projects?”
While these questions might seem pertinent to most, this article will show you why these questions aren’t very intelligent, and are based on misconceptions.
In order to do this, I will explain:
How a hardware is made, describing the whole process. This will show you how hard and lengthy this process is, making other blockchain projects go for easier and less costly solutions, such as “software development”. This point will also show you how the HPB ICO is justified, compared to other projects by giving you an estimation of the cost of production.
Demonstrate, following the first point, that even if, a project were to steal the BOE, it will need 1–2 years to release it, and in a space moving this fast, 1–2 years is a very long time.
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Just writing all of this tires me, you can imagine now how tedious it is to create this BOE.

II/- Cost approximation
Time = money in a company:
A project like this needs 2–3 years of production. Pay the salary of these:
Hardware engineer (1–2)
System Engineer (1–2)
Layout Engineer (one)
Embedded Engineer/devs (several)
Mechanical Engineer (several)
Components Engineer
Buyer
Managers for each team
Tool licences :
Hardware: Schematics maker, a management tool( for components and documents)
Mechanical: CAD / solidworks + management tool
System : management tool + system tools
SW Development tools
Layout tool like Enovia/Cadence
Manufacturing cost:
Factor every component and multiply by the number of the board (mechanical pieces included)
Time needed for the manufacturer ( tooling, personnel , and gain)
This could easily cost millions of dollars. Lettuce be cereal here, that’s not a small sum.
Let’s not count the prototyping. There could be several prototypes before the manufacturing comes in…

III/- Conclusion
Answering the questions that I asked in the intro:
1- Why don’t other projects use hardware if it is that good? Do other projects have the capacity and will to go through such a tedious process, in a space that is incredibly risky? If most of the space is a scam, why would they waste their time with this enormous effort? Ask yourself this question. Does Vitalik Butternut have the capacity to manage such a project? No, because he is a software guy and has 0 experience in electronics. Does the HPB team now look a little bit more serious to you now that you understand what goes on behind this BOE? Ask yourself this question.
2- What prevents other projects from stealing the BOE design? Well like I have just showed you, the process of building it requires a massive amount of time (around 1–2 years). So far, HPB is the only project with a working hardware, and no other project started working on it. This means that HPB has first mover advantage and is safe for 2–3 years. That’s a long time in crypto. Isn’t it worth investing in the first mover? Ask yourself this question.
3- In conclusion to cost point, I believe the HPB ICO is the ONLY one in the space, that is JUSTIFIED. Why does a project like EOS need billions of dollars? What justifies the cost? What about Cardano? Ask yourself this question.