To be honest, I think the last time I really tried to use one was so long ago I don't even remember what the trouble was. People at my org who've tried to use one more recently all say that they "work better when you're part of a very large all SmartBoard ecosystem" which I take to mean getting things like the right markers and such are easier.
Funny enough, an old predecessor to all this treated the board surface kind of like a large scanner face, when you were ready to "capture" the board, you hit a button and a large arm scanned the board and printed out a black and white copy of the board contents onto a piece of thermal paper. In a few seconds you could print off a copy for everybody in the room. From the age of paper sadly, but definitely simple and useful.
Funny enough, an old predecessor to all this treated the board surface kind of like a large scanner face, when you were ready to "capture" the board, you hit a button and a large arm scanned the board and printed out a black and white copy of the board contents onto a piece of thermal paper. In a few seconds you could print off a copy for everybody in the room. From the age of paper sadly, but definitely simple and useful.