The first
Snowboard-like invention was made in 1929 by M.J. "Jack" Burchett. He basically just strapped his feet to a wooden board. The idea remained
dormant until the 1970s when several people reinvented the idea using
cafeteria trays and tied-together
skiis. In 1980, Burton released the first mainstream
snowboard, the
Winterstick. The idea slowly spread, although it was not always widely accepted at ski resorts. Snowboarding now is accepted as widely as skiing in most areas, and is an
olympic sport as well as featuring in such pseudo-alternative events as the
X-Games.
There is sometimes a bit of animosity between skiiers and snowboarders, for various reasons. One of these is probably just a generation gap, as many older people ski and younger people usually prefer snowboarding. Another point of argument is that novice skiiers generally plow straight down a hill while novice snowboarders weave back and forth. This creates a situation when they often crash into each other. However, most snowboarders (or skiiers) i know don't really care about this all. I have friends who ski and we go down the hills together without really thinking about it, or anything other than friendly competition. It seems that snowboarding is becoming the status-quo in many areas since it is very popular in young people, but there are also many excellent young skiiers, so skiing is nowhere close to 'fading out'.
thanks to http://www.sbhistory.de/ for info on the history of snowboarding