Ask HN: Which companies do you admire and why?
A lot of the big players from the 2010s have lost some of their aura, and there are a lot of people who don't love the big names in tech these days and are disenchanted from the industry.
Which companies do you still admire and why? Include software-adjacent or even non-software.
Jolla, because they create GNU/Linux phones that are actually usable and offer better specs than Purism (who are still using 15-year old specs that no one wants). They also wrote a lot of dedicated software for them, like their Android compatibility layer (Alien) which makes their phones more practical for daily-driving than Purism.
PostmarketOS, because it's better in many ways (specs; your wallet; the environment) to just rescue an older Android phone and install postmarketOS on it, than to buy a brand new "cheap" GNU/Linux phone. Take the OnePlus 6/T for example - way better specs than anything Pine64 offers, you can get it for the fraction of the price of a new Pine phone, and you're reducing e-waste.
StarLabs for their Linux laptops. Unlike System76, they're based in the UK, which makes them a more viable option for those outside of the US, who can't or don't want to import from the US for various reasons. Also, unlike System76, StarLabs actually make their own laptops - instead of relabeling someone else's mediocre laptops. Finally, unlike System76, StarLabs have no issues shipping to most countries - they ship to over 150+ countries in fact.
Alibaba. Reason: Qwen, open source work.
Meta. Reason: open source work (although this is love/hate due to privacy etc etc)
Google. Reason: Free services, open source work, creation of modern AI (including Transformers).
OpenAI. Reason: Chat GPT 4o, driving the industry forward (less so now)
BBC. For doing us proud.
Raspberry PI Holdings. Reason: Progressing education, affordable SBCs, following a proud tradition (Acorn, ARM, Sinclair)
Espressif. Reason: ESP series products (cheap, easy to use, feature Laden)
LONGi & Trina Solar: Reason: Perovskite solar panel innovations
Runners up (publicly funded so not companies as such):
CERN: Reason: Research and open source work.
NASA: Reason: Research.
The ones that pay their taxes fully.
Purism, because they created a usable GNU/Linux phone and offer Linux laptops. They also wrote a lot of dedicated free software for them.
Pine64, because they offer various Linux-first hardware and a cheap GNU/Linux phone.
System76 for their Linux laptops and Cosmic desktop environment.
See also:
Ask HN: What companies are you excited about?
63 points by mholt on Jan 22, 2021 | 79 comments
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25869285
Ask HN: What are ethical companies like Patagonia and some digital counterparts?
48 points by maremmano on Dec 28, 2023 | 58 comments
Who actually cares?
Why? All these companies are not your friends.
All companies are bad because they all prioritize profits