I dunno anything about windows drivers and am sure the API for that is completely unrelated to linux, although the specifications, for, eg, a USB device, are standardized and platform independent. You can download them from here:
USB.org - Approved Device Class Document Download
I have the video class one, it's like 200+ pages mostly of struct like definitions of things called endpoints and descriptors, you will need another source to understand how those are used (eg, an MS Windows device driver programming book will be essential).
I gave up on device drivers because I am not much of a hardware freak -- I don't need to start buying it to play around with, and reverse engineering the el cheapo USB camera I have to write a linux driver for it, and getting that to work with existing front end video software, is not something I have enough time for.
It's the reverse engineering aspect which sucks, esp. if you have not "forward engineered" something
, by this I mean written a driver for which you have the necessary, specific stats (not just the generic, all inclusive standards from the above site). To do that, you will have to find a device that comes with stats. This includes the kinds of things you might build yourself with a soldering iron, etc, if you were into electronics/robotics/whatever.
I think you will have a hard time finding a normal, easily available consumer item to work with. However, there are weird things like this you could order online:
Delcom Products Inc. - Home Page
as I've read that:
That's with respect to the "USB Visual Signal Indicator", but I presume it is true for all their products. Myself personally, I might go for a few lights and the "quad foot switch"
Anyway, that's the route I'd take if I wanted to get serious about it.