6 ms·

I would say that usually the dumb stuff is better. People are sometimes surprised (since I work in IT) that I am against putting too many functionality in stuff

by meuk 9y ago

I would say that usually the dumb stuff is better. People are sometimes surprised (since I work in IT) that I am against putting too many functionality in stuff. First example: in my experience, there is nothing better than a blackboard for explaining a subject. I have never seen a blackboard that does not work. I also have never had a smooth experience with a smartboard (for starters, it has to boot and the projector has to be on and connected which just takes some minutes), and I have rarely had a good experience with whiteboards (usually the markers just don't work well, and there's no way to see that beforehand, so you end up trying a lot of them). It also irritates me intensely how often it is assumed that you're always connected to the internet. Games nowadays not only have mandatory updates, but also require you to be connected. I used to play games once a week with a friend, and the experience just sucked. Call of Duty almost always had a multiple gigabyte update waiting for us, so that we had to wait half an hour to play (even though we didn't play online). It has happened multiple times that the internet didn't work, and we just had to find something else to do. Then, smart TV's have some of the same problems too. I have had some new experiences since my roommate bought a 4k monstrosity with ambilight (which only purpose seems to be that ensure that no-one can concentrate on something else when the TV is on). I have never had to wait multiple minutes to turn the TV on before. I have never had a TV crash on me before. I have never been confused by a remote control before (the remote control has a button with a triangle symbol to go to all apps, and some other buttons with symbols I have never seen before, and there are two different places with apps - some of them are the same while others can only be found in one place). The TV also boots with the sound very loud, and I have to wait until the TV is fully booted until the sound can be adjusted. Which in practice means that I can't watch TV after my roommate goes asleep at 9:30.

TomMarius 9y ago
A large part of this is shitty engineering and product development. These products could be made so much better, but they suck instead.
- meuk 9y ago
  True, but it is also the price to pay when you use technology. You can't test everything. The TV, for example, is a new model from a big, quality brand (and in general it works well). Likewise, Call of Duty (the game that requires internet even if you play offline - not sure if this holds for all games in the series) is not a small title. So if these products by big companies have that shitty engineering, then most products with the same functionality probably will have similar problems.
  - TomMarius 9y ago
    From what I've seen while working for large companies, the problem is most likely incompetence and/or quality not being a priority.
    - acdha 9y ago
      It’s important not to excuse the business decisions behind that incompetence: someone knew about the problem and figured you’d buy it anyway because of marketing or everyone else cutting the same corners.
      - TomMarius 9y ago
        Again, from my personal experience, most of the time the decision maker doesn't know there is a problem or that it could possibly be improved.
        Piskvorrr 9y ago
        Or rather "fixing the problem would take time and money. Nah, just ship it."
        TomMarius 9y ago
        Not really. Usually the developers and mid managers are doing this to themselves, they say something like "we can't tell him or he will fire us" and the decision maker is not aware of any problems. What happens when I step in is that I tell them what problems do they really have and most of the time the decision maker really wants to fix them and isn't going to fire anyone (except for the incompetent mid-managers that caused these issues).
- dozzie 9y ago
  You'd need tremendous amounts of engineering for all those not to suck. And engineering that's done by really experienced people. Too bad that people desiging the "smart" part are from the same IT industry that thinks 3 or 5 years of experience qualifies as "senior".
  - rootlocus 9y ago
    Can I quote you from another post? > It's not really that difficult to learn six languages to a level of using them professionally. I've seen it happen. [1] [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16458513 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16458513
    - dozzie 9y ago
      Oh, of course you can quote me. Though you should also explain how is this particular quote of any relevance here.
      - rootlocus 9y ago
        I believe using a language "professionally" means being senior. Which is different from having a profession where you use said language. On the one hand you're arguing you can't become "Senior" in 5 years, but at the same time you can become professional with 6 languages with little effort.
        TomMarius 9y ago
        You can be a professional developer that is on junior level.
        rootlocus 9y ago
        "Professionals have standards"
        daveFNbuck 9y ago
        Your definition doesn't make sense. I've been labeled a "Senior Software Engineer". Does that mean that any time I write code in any language I'm using it professionally, while people who have been paid to write the same language for years but don't have senior in their title aren't using it professionally?
pjc50 9y ago
I got a Nintendo Switch lately and was overjoyed to see that its prompts to download and update offline games are skippable.
- Xylakant 9y ago
  PlayStation does the same. It advises that you can skip the update if you don’t intend to use networked features.
  - madez 9y ago
    Debian does the same. You are free to pick and choose what to update and even look what changed before applying the update. And the best is, you can change the update or create an update yourself!
    - syrrim 9y ago
      Are there any popular distros that don't let you skip an update?
      - madez 9y ago
        Well, Android doesn't let you skip updates of specific parts. It's all or nothing.
      - dTal 9y ago
        Fail to update Arch at your peril. All packages are built against the latest versions of libraries, so you quickly find that programs from the repositories don't work until you update.
  - daveFNbuck 9y ago
    PlayStation can also do auto updates if you leave the console in sleep mode rather than turning it fully off. When I start up my game I just get a notification that an update has been applied rather than a prompt asking whether I want to wait for an update or play offline.
bartread 9y ago
You're right about blackboards but they make a hell of a mess with all the chalk dust. The game updates situation... eesh. So many times when I've got maybe 20 minutes free to play a game and it wants to spend 10 of them downloading updates. One of the reasons I've come to love retro console gaming is that nonsense doesn't happen with PS1, PS2, Xbox, or Wii games. For a lot of things dumb is often better and more reliable, especially at home: lights (though I do crave a master switch by my back door) and door-locks spring immediately to mind. I haven't seen motion activated taps - the kind you see in public toilets - creeping into homes yet, but it's only a matter of time. Those things have always seemed pointless and overcomplicated to me, so if I ever move into a house that has them they'll be getting pulled straight out. What happens if you have a power-cut? I assume they'll keep working for at least a while, but sooner or later I imagine they'll run out of juice, and then what do you do?
- astura 9y ago
  The motion activated taps in public bathrooms are to prevent people from wasting water, not for convenience.
  - bartread 9y ago
    Makes sense, although I have to ask: are they a net saving in waste water and processing versus resources required to manufacture them (or price)? They've been around a long time now so I can believe they would be.
    - achamayou 9y ago
      They also make sense from a hygiene perspective, the less (humid!) stuff everyone touches, particularly after they washe their hand, the harder it is for bacteria to spread.
      - gm-conspiracy 9y ago
        But, not those Dyson hand dryers. https://arstechnica.com/science/2016/04/dyson-dryers-hurl-60x-more-viruses-most-at-kid-face-height-than-other-dryers/ https://arstechnica.com/science/2016/04/dyson-dryers-hurl-60...
ImaCake 9y ago
We recently purchased a TV and chose one based on the lack of any Smart TV functionality. It boots in 5 seconds and doesn't try and join botnets. The future is stupid.
- laythea 9y ago
  I got a new TV last week. The problem with a preference for simple is that the best model bang/buck was a smart tv. I managed to crash it with only the remote controller last night.
  - daveFNbuck 9y ago
    Do you still think it was the best bang for the buck when you factor in the crash and how slow it is in general?
    - laythea 9y ago
      Depressingly, yes.
- Feniks 9y ago
  Yep the whole internet of things isn't my cup of tea either. I'm not letting my TV iniate an outbound connection without permission. Security is a nightmare and I don't want to be profiled by anyone.
- daveFNbuck 9y ago
  I'm getting worried I won't be able to find a dumb TV when I need a new one.
  - Piskvorrr 9y ago
    It's called "computer display" nowadays; the so-called TVs only have extra a RPi compute module and a DVB tuner ;)
    - 9y ago
aldanor 9y ago
Just got myself (an expensive Nobo) glass whiteboard for brainstorming my side projects and, with all the technology, laptops, tablets and gadgets I'm constantly surrounded by, it turned out to be a very fun and useful thing to have. There's something immediate about it that motivates you to do quick brain dumps, where it's always at hand's reach and it takes zero time to erase anything so you don't feel too committed. // Blackboard in this case would have been be far less practical as everything around it would be eventually covered in chalk.
humanrebar 9y ago
> I have never seen a blackboard that does not work. I have. It looks like a normal blackboard that doesn't have any chalk nearby. Smart boards are generally worse, but their chalk doesn't run out or disappear.
- zbentley 9y ago
  If your blackboard "malfunctions" (runs out of chalk), it's obvious to a new user what the issue is, and how to fix it (borrow some from so-and-so down the hall, or send someone to buy a pack). If your smart blackboard malfunctions, it's not obvious what the problem is (power loss/issue? Software bug? Something else?) and you definitely can't borrow a few ounces of chalk from your neighbor to fix it.
- coldtea 9y ago
  >Meaning if power goes out and is restored in the middle of the night the lights could suddenly turn on full brightness. No, they just add 200 other failure scenarios of their own...
- marcosdumay 9y ago
  I have also seen uneraseable chalk boards, and boards where the chalk wouldn't adhere. Besides, the chalk powder is a great health hazard, and the sound is a great distractor. There's a reason everybody switched into white boards, and it's not because of novelty. About smart boards, they are great for remote conferences, and for mixing pre-made content with writing. I don't think they are worth the hassle (unless you do remote conferences a lot), but they are not all downsides either.
  - greedo 9y ago
    "chalk powder is a great health hazard" Nonsense. Some individuals with pre-existing breathing conditions may have those conditions exacerbated by inhaling chalk at unusual levels, but to say that chalk powder by itself is a great hazard is nonsense on stilts.
- pavel_lishin 9y ago
Kagerjay 9y ago
IIRC, schools are now veering away from smartboards (since they always break, high upfront cost and maintenance, low value) and instead veering towards TVs with a seperate see-through touch overlay on top of it. The cost is significantly less, since TVs with various types of inputs (HDMI, VGA, etc) can be bought cheaply since they are manufactured in bulk. There's also less maintenance since the TV and overlay are not electronically connected in anyway, therefore less moving parts. When a TV goes bad you just dump it out and buy a new one, etc I've never understood the need to be always connected to the internet for gaming. Especially if its a single player game, I prefer to have steam just run it offline, but I guess the counterargument for game companies is DRM (they want to validate whether you purchased the game or not). I do IT all the time and I am always against putting too much functionality in everything. People don't appreciate the simple things until they have to repair it themselves. I never bought into smart homes, TVs, amazon echo/alexa products, etc. I just don't see the need to automate these things that provide little value in the long run. Per article, my rule of thumb is to always resort to the simplest, dumbest thing possible to validate whether or not I actually need the high tech solution. A good example of this, not mentioned in the article, is a pomodoro timer (a timer designed to work on 25 minute work periods). You can download a slew of apps to do this on your PC. Or you could just buy a miracle cube timer off amazon for like $10. Another good example is a todolist. You can find hundreds of these apps that integrate everywhere that it doesn't need to be. I resort to just using sticky notes and shove them in my wallet / keyboard to remind me of tasks I need to do.
- xkcd-sucks 9y ago
  The pomodoro example is interesting because the technique is named for a ubiquitous mechanical kitchen timer :)
grigjd3 9y ago
So I got Sony super-duper 4k HDR with some chip that makes the colors better. I hook up my Sony ps4 to it. Every time a game launches, the tv fully shuts off. Not standby mode, fully shuts off, requiring a reboot through that stupid android tv screen. Good job, Sony.
falcolas 9y ago
WRT whiteboards - the problem is ironically enough the users. They try to be frugal with the markers, using them as long as they can. I did too, until I did some introspection and realized what I was doing. Once I had that realization, and identified how cheap replacement markers really are, the moment it starts to crap out it's tossed and replaced from a backup container sitting nearby. I'm also biased against blackboards, having gone through school with them. I was all-too-frequently chosen to go bang the chalk dust out the erasers, becoming coated from tip to toe in said dust. Too much hassle for the value. Not to mention the need for a deep cleaning of the board periodically, though I guess it shares that with whiteboards.
- musage 9y ago
  > I was all-too-frequently chosen to go bang the chalk dust out the erasers, becoming coated from tip to toe in said dust. Our teachers had a small bucket of water and simply cleaned the sponges themselves, if we had to do it it was fun rather than a health hazard. > Not to mention the need for a deep cleaning of the board periodically Again wet sponge technology comes to the rescue, plus window cleaning thingies to get the blackboard to dry before the next lesson. That school was ass backwards in so many ways, but even they didn't manage to mess up using blackboards. > the moment it starts to crap out it's tossed and replaced from a backup container sitting nearby How does all that plastic compare to some colored chalk and water though? What's involved in producing colored chalk versus producing whiteboard markers? It's a honest question because I have no clue, but of course the implication is that it seems likely to me, not having looked into it at all, that chalk is way more environmentally friendly. I also think the skill ceiling for chalk, and the possible range of styles, is greater, so to speak. But I never really saw gifted whiteboard use, and did have some teachers who had beautiful handwriting on a blackboard and used little tricks to make neat graphs or images, who had a real sense of craftsmanship if not artistry about it, so I'm probably biased in the other direction.
  - falcolas 9y ago
    A very interesting data point. I don't think I ever saw someone use a sponge and water on a chalkboard in all my years. I mean, it makes sense, but I never saw it in action. Perhaps it's because the drying time would have been too long, since most teachers would be re-using blackboard space constantly throughout a single class period. I can certainly imagine that the environmental impact of blackboards is overall lower than whiteboards, but even given the sponge-and-bucket method, I'd have to say that whiteboards fall on the "easier to use" side of the equation; something that's hard to dismiss when we want minimal friction when writing something out on a board.

by meuk 9y ago

TomMarius 9y ago

A large part of this is shitty engineering and product development. These products could be made so much better, but they suck instead.

meuk 9y ago
True, but it is also the price to pay when you use technology. You can't test everything. The TV, for example, is a new model from a big, quality brand (and in general it works well). Likewise, Call of Duty (the game that requires internet even if you play offline - not sure if this holds for all games in the series) is not a small title. So if these products by big companies have that shitty engineering, then most products with the same functionality probably will have similar problems.
- TomMarius 9y ago
  From what I've seen while working for large companies, the problem is most likely incompetence and/or quality not being a priority.
  - acdha 9y ago
    It’s important not to excuse the business decisions behind that incompetence: someone knew about the problem and figured you’d buy it anyway because of marketing or everyone else cutting the same corners.
    - TomMarius 9y ago
      Again, from my personal experience, most of the time the decision maker doesn't know there is a problem or that it could possibly be improved.
      - Piskvorrr 9y ago
        Or rather "fixing the problem would take time and money. Nah, just ship it."
        TomMarius 9y ago
        Not really. Usually the developers and mid managers are doing this to themselves, they say something like "we can't tell him or he will fire us" and the decision maker is not aware of any problems. What happens when I step in is that I tell them what problems do they really have and most of the time the decision maker really wants to fix them and isn't going to fire anyone (except for the incompetent mid-managers that caused these issues).
dozzie 9y ago
You'd need tremendous amounts of engineering for all those not to suck. And engineering that's done by really experienced people. Too bad that people desiging the "smart" part are from the same IT industry that thinks 3 or 5 years of experience qualifies as "senior".
- rootlocus 9y ago
  Can I quote you from another post? > It's not really that difficult to learn six languages to a level of using them professionally. I've seen it happen. [1] [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16458513 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16458513
  - dozzie 9y ago
    Oh, of course you can quote me. Though you should also explain how is this particular quote of any relevance here.
    - rootlocus 9y ago
      I believe using a language "professionally" means being senior. Which is different from having a profession where you use said language. On the one hand you're arguing you can't become "Senior" in 5 years, but at the same time you can become professional with 6 languages with little effort.
      - TomMarius 9y ago
        You can be a professional developer that is on junior level.
        rootlocus 9y ago
        "Professionals have standards"
      - daveFNbuck 9y ago
        Your definition doesn't make sense. I've been labeled a "Senior Software Engineer". Does that mean that any time I write code in any language I'm using it professionally, while people who have been paid to write the same language for years but don't have senior in their title aren't using it professionally?

pjc50 9y ago

I got a Nintendo Switch lately and was overjoyed to see that its prompts to download and update offline games are skippable.

Xylakant 9y ago
PlayStation does the same. It advises that you can skip the update if you don’t intend to use networked features.
- madez 9y ago
  Debian does the same. You are free to pick and choose what to update and even look what changed before applying the update. And the best is, you can change the update or create an update yourself!
  - syrrim 9y ago
    Are there any popular distros that don't let you skip an update?
    - madez 9y ago
      Well, Android doesn't let you skip updates of specific parts. It's all or nothing.
    - dTal 9y ago
      Fail to update Arch at your peril. All packages are built against the latest versions of libraries, so you quickly find that programs from the repositories don't work until you update.
- daveFNbuck 9y ago
  PlayStation can also do auto updates if you leave the console in sleep mode rather than turning it fully off. When I start up my game I just get a notification that an update has been applied rather than a prompt asking whether I want to wait for an update or play offline.

bartread 9y ago

You're right about blackboards but they make a hell of a mess with all the chalk dust. The game updates situation... eesh. So many times when I've got maybe 20 minutes free to play a game and it wants to spend 10 of them downloading updates. One of the reasons I've come to love retro console gaming is that nonsense doesn't happen with PS1, PS2, Xbox, or Wii games. For a lot of things dumb is often better and more reliable, especially at home: lights (though I do crave a master switch by my back door) and door-locks spring immediately to mind. I haven't seen motion activated taps - the kind you see in public toilets - creeping into homes yet, but it's only a matter of time. Those things have always seemed pointless and overcomplicated to me, so if I ever move into a house that has them they'll be getting pulled straight out. What happens if you have a power-cut? I assume they'll keep working for at least a while, but sooner or later I imagine they'll run out of juice, and then what do you do?

astura 9y ago
The motion activated taps in public bathrooms are to prevent people from wasting water, not for convenience.
- bartread 9y ago
  Makes sense, although I have to ask: are they a net saving in waste water and processing versus resources required to manufacture them (or price)? They've been around a long time now so I can believe they would be.
  - achamayou 9y ago
    They also make sense from a hygiene perspective, the less (humid!) stuff everyone touches, particularly after they washe their hand, the harder it is for bacteria to spread.
    - gm-conspiracy 9y ago
      But, not those Dyson hand dryers. https://arstechnica.com/science/2016/04/dyson-dryers-hurl-60x-more-viruses-most-at-kid-face-height-than-other-dryers/ https://arstechnica.com/science/2016/04/dyson-dryers-hurl-60...

ImaCake 9y ago

We recently purchased a TV and chose one based on the lack of any Smart TV functionality. It boots in 5 seconds and doesn't try and join botnets. The future is stupid.

laythea 9y ago
I got a new TV last week. The problem with a preference for simple is that the best model bang/buck was a smart tv. I managed to crash it with only the remote controller last night.
- daveFNbuck 9y ago
  Do you still think it was the best bang for the buck when you factor in the crash and how slow it is in general?
  - laythea 9y ago
    Depressingly, yes.
Feniks 9y ago
Yep the whole internet of things isn't my cup of tea either. I'm not letting my TV iniate an outbound connection without permission. Security is a nightmare and I don't want to be profiled by anyone.
daveFNbuck 9y ago
I'm getting worried I won't be able to find a dumb TV when I need a new one.
- Piskvorrr 9y ago
  It's called "computer display" nowadays; the so-called TVs only have extra a RPi compute module and a DVB tuner ;)
  - 9y ago

aldanor 9y ago

Just got myself (an expensive Nobo) glass whiteboard for brainstorming my side projects and, with all the technology, laptops, tablets and gadgets I'm constantly surrounded by, it turned out to be a very fun and useful thing to have. There's something immediate about it that motivates you to do quick brain dumps, where it's always at hand's reach and it takes zero time to erase anything so you don't feel too committed. // Blackboard in this case would have been be far less practical as everything around it would be eventually covered in chalk.

humanrebar 9y ago

> I have never seen a blackboard that does not work. I have. It looks like a normal blackboard that doesn't have any chalk nearby. Smart boards are generally worse, but their chalk doesn't run out or disappear.

zbentley 9y ago
If your blackboard "malfunctions" (runs out of chalk), it's obvious to a new user what the issue is, and how to fix it (borrow some from so-and-so down the hall, or send someone to buy a pack). If your smart blackboard malfunctions, it's not obvious what the problem is (power loss/issue? Software bug? Something else?) and you definitely can't borrow a few ounces of chalk from your neighbor to fix it.
coldtea 9y ago
>Meaning if power goes out and is restored in the middle of the night the lights could suddenly turn on full brightness. No, they just add 200 other failure scenarios of their own...
marcosdumay 9y ago
I have also seen uneraseable chalk boards, and boards where the chalk wouldn't adhere. Besides, the chalk powder is a great health hazard, and the sound is a great distractor. There's a reason everybody switched into white boards, and it's not because of novelty. About smart boards, they are great for remote conferences, and for mixing pre-made content with writing. I don't think they are worth the hassle (unless you do remote conferences a lot), but they are not all downsides either.
- greedo 9y ago
  "chalk powder is a great health hazard" Nonsense. Some individuals with pre-existing breathing conditions may have those conditions exacerbated by inhaling chalk at unusual levels, but to say that chalk powder by itself is a great hazard is nonsense on stilts.
pavel_lishin 9y ago

Kagerjay 9y ago

IIRC, schools are now veering away from smartboards (since they always break, high upfront cost and maintenance, low value) and instead veering towards TVs with a seperate see-through touch overlay on top of it. The cost is significantly less, since TVs with various types of inputs (HDMI, VGA, etc) can be bought cheaply since they are manufactured in bulk. There's also less maintenance since the TV and overlay are not electronically connected in anyway, therefore less moving parts. When a TV goes bad you just dump it out and buy a new one, etc I've never understood the need to be always connected to the internet for gaming. Especially if its a single player game, I prefer to have steam just run it offline, but I guess the counterargument for game companies is DRM (they want to validate whether you purchased the game or not). I do IT all the time and I am always against putting too much functionality in everything. People don't appreciate the simple things until they have to repair it themselves. I never bought into smart homes, TVs, amazon echo/alexa products, etc. I just don't see the need to automate these things that provide little value in the long run. Per article, my rule of thumb is to always resort to the simplest, dumbest thing possible to validate whether or not I actually need the high tech solution. A good example of this, not mentioned in the article, is a pomodoro timer (a timer designed to work on 25 minute work periods). You can download a slew of apps to do this on your PC. Or you could just buy a miracle cube timer off amazon for like $10. Another good example is a todolist. You can find hundreds of these apps that integrate everywhere that it doesn't need to be. I resort to just using sticky notes and shove them in my wallet / keyboard to remind me of tasks I need to do.

xkcd-sucks 9y ago
The pomodoro example is interesting because the technique is named for a ubiquitous mechanical kitchen timer :)

grigjd3 9y ago

So I got Sony super-duper 4k HDR with some chip that makes the colors better. I hook up my Sony ps4 to it. Every time a game launches, the tv fully shuts off. Not standby mode, fully shuts off, requiring a reboot through that stupid android tv screen. Good job, Sony.

falcolas 9y ago

WRT whiteboards - the problem is ironically enough the users. They try to be frugal with the markers, using them as long as they can. I did too, until I did some introspection and realized what I was doing. Once I had that realization, and identified how cheap replacement markers really are, the moment it starts to crap out it's tossed and replaced from a backup container sitting nearby. I'm also biased against blackboards, having gone through school with them. I was all-too-frequently chosen to go bang the chalk dust out the erasers, becoming coated from tip to toe in said dust. Too much hassle for the value. Not to mention the need for a deep cleaning of the board periodically, though I guess it shares that with whiteboards.

musage 9y ago
> I was all-too-frequently chosen to go bang the chalk dust out the erasers, becoming coated from tip to toe in said dust. Our teachers had a small bucket of water and simply cleaned the sponges themselves, if we had to do it it was fun rather than a health hazard. > Not to mention the need for a deep cleaning of the board periodically Again wet sponge technology comes to the rescue, plus window cleaning thingies to get the blackboard to dry before the next lesson. That school was ass backwards in so many ways, but even they didn't manage to mess up using blackboards. > the moment it starts to crap out it's tossed and replaced from a backup container sitting nearby How does all that plastic compare to some colored chalk and water though? What's involved in producing colored chalk versus producing whiteboard markers? It's a honest question because I have no clue, but of course the implication is that it seems likely to me, not having looked into it at all, that chalk is way more environmentally friendly. I also think the skill ceiling for chalk, and the possible range of styles, is greater, so to speak. But I never really saw gifted whiteboard use, and did have some teachers who had beautiful handwriting on a blackboard and used little tricks to make neat graphs or images, who had a real sense of craftsmanship if not artistry about it, so I'm probably biased in the other direction.
- falcolas 9y ago
  A very interesting data point. I don't think I ever saw someone use a sponge and water on a chalkboard in all my years. I mean, it makes sense, but I never saw it in action. Perhaps it's because the drying time would have been too long, since most teachers would be re-using blackboard space constantly throughout a single class period. I can certainly imagine that the environmental impact of blackboards is overall lower than whiteboards, but even given the sponge-and-bucket method, I'd have to say that whiteboards fall on the "easier to use" side of the equation; something that's hard to dismiss when we want minimal friction when writing something out on a board.