NavList:

From time to time List members bemoan the lack of a mutually available whiteboard, which would make communicating ideas much easier. Attachments are discouraged, and in any case what is needed is an interactive way of sharing formulas, sketches, diagrams – so one (or many) can instantly receive this graphic and modify it, or add comments. An electronic interactive whiteboard.

And so I started dreaming about this killer app, which would make me rich and famous. The main market, to my mind, is not boring nerds like ourselves. Rather it would be people who are largely excluded from the internet’s communication possibilities because their written language doesn’t use an alphabet, such as the Chinese languages. There are also lots of Indian and South East Asian languages that use their own scripts. Using my app they can take a standard computer with Roman keyboard and communicate with others by writing messages back and forth on the electronic whiteboard.

I even decided it would be vector based, and since it is just an extension of instant messaging, wondered idly why it hadn’t already been invented.

Well, unfortunately for my pipe dreams and fortunately for the Nav List, I think it has been. They even pinched my great name for it – Whiteboard. It exists (I think) as part of Windows Messenger.

So before the next time someone on the List is frustrated and wishes aloud for a whiteboard to stand around and share ideas, it might be worthwhile investigating Messenger. There are software competitors in instant messaging, I don’t know whether they also have this feature. And I haven’t used it myself – my information comes from the Windows Messenger Help file. What little I do know about Instant Messaging is this:

Its software that allows people to exchange text (and other files; music, pictures) “instantly”, so an interactive conversation is possible. Once its running you are alerted when someone (you know and welcome) wants to “chat” with you. Members of your inner circle also know when you are online and receptive.

If something like Whiteboard was being used often it would make sense to invest in an electronic tablet and pen, but the mouse would do at a pinch for drawing rough sketches. Computers have long had drawing programs that could be incorporated to enrich the designing process. There I go again, redesigning Whiteboard. Sigh.