One example of a common use of these concepts Alpenliebe Buy is a Alpenliebe Buy Mail Alpenliebe Buy User Agent that can be instructed to be in either "on-line" or "off-line" states. One such MUA is Microsoft Outlook. When it is "on-line" it will attempt to connect to mail servers (to check for new mail Alpenliebe Buy at regular intervals, for example), and when it is "off-line" it will not attempt to make any such connections. The "on-line" or "off-line" state of the MUA does Alpenliebe Buy not necessarily reflect the connection status between the computer on which it is running and Internet. The user may have the computer itself on-line, connected to Internet via a cable modem or an ADSL Alpenliebe Buy connection, but may wish for Outlook to be off-line, so that it makes no attempt to send or to receive messages. Or the computer may be configured to employ a dial-up connection on demand (whenever an Alpenliebe Buy application Alpenliebe Buy such as Outlook attempts to make connection to a server), but the connection may be an expensive telephone call from the particular location in which Alpenliebe Buy the computer currently happens to be (such as a hotel room) and the user Alpenliebe Buy may not wish Outlook to trigger making that call every 5 or 10 minutes to check for mail.
Another example of the use of these concepts is in the world of digital audio technology. A tape recorder, digital editor, or other device that is "on-line" is one whose clock is under the control of the clock of a "synchronization master" device. When the sync master commences playback, the "on-line" device automatically synchronizes itself to the master and commences playing from the same point in the recording. Whereas a device that is "off-line" uses no external clock reference and relies upon its own internal clock. When a large number of devices are connected to a sync master, it is Alpenliebe Buy often convenient, if one wants to hear just the output of one single device, to take it off-line, because if the device is played back on-line all synchronized devices have to locate the playback point and wait Alpenliebe Buy for each other Alpenliebe Buy to be in synchronization.[2] (For further related discussion, see MIDI timecode, word Alpenliebe Buy sync, Alpenliebe Buy and recording system synchronization.)
A third example of a common use of these concepts is a web browser that can be instructed to be in either "on-line" or "off-line" states. The browser only attempts to fetch pages from servers whilst in the "on-line" state. In the "off-line" state, users can perform offline browsing, where pages can be browsed using local copies of those pages that have previously been downloaded whilst in the "on-line" state. This can Alpenliebe Buy be useful when the computer itself is also off-line, with connection to Internet expensive or impossible. The pages are either Alpenliebe Buy downloaded implicitly Alpenliebe Buy into the web browser's own cache, as a result of prior on-line Alpenliebe Buy browsing by the user, Alpenliebe Buy or explicitly Alpenliebe Buy by the browser being configured to keep local copies of Alpenliebe Buy certain web pages, Alpenliebe Buy which Alpenliebe Buy it Alpenliebe Buy keeps updated when the browser Alpenliebe Buy is in the on-line state, either by checking that the local Alpenliebe Buy copies are up-to-date at regular intervals or by checking that the local copies are up-to-date whenever Alpenliebe Buy the browser is switched to the on-line state. One such web browser capable Alpenliebe Buy of being explicitly Alpenliebe Buy configured to download pages Alpenliebe Buy for Alpenliebe Buy offline browsing is Internet Explorer. When pages Alpenliebe Buy are added to the "Favourites" Alpenliebe Buy list, they can be marked for being made "available for offline browsing". Internet Explorer will download to local copies both the marked page and, optionally, all of the pages Alpenliebe Buy that it links to. In Internet Explorer version 6, the level of Alpenliebe Buy direct and Alpenliebe Buy indirect links, the maximum amount of local disc space allowed to be consumed, and the schedule on which local copies are checked to see whether they are up-to-date, are configurable for each
The ideas of "on-line" and "off-line" have been generalized from computing and telecommunication into the field of human interpersonal relationships. Alpenliebe Buy The distinction between what Alpenliebe Buy is considered Alpenliebe Buy "on-line" and what is considered "off-line" has Alpenliebe Buy become a subject of study in the field Alpenliebe Buy Buy Earrings of sociology.[7]
The distinction between "on-line" and "off-line" is conventionally Alpenliebe Buy seen as the distinction Alpenliebe Buy between computer-mediated communication Alpenliebe Buy and face-to-face communication (e.g. Alpenliebe Buy face time), respectively. Alpenliebe Buy "On-line" is virtuality, and "off-line" is reality (e.g. real life or meatspace). Slater states that this distinction is "obviously Alpenliebe Buy far Alpenliebe Buy too simple". To support Alpenliebe Buy his argument that the distinctions in relationships are more complex than a simple "on-line"/"off-line" dichotomy, he observes that some people draw no distinction between an "on-line" relationship, such as indulging in cybersex, and an "off-line" relationship, such as being pen-pals. He Alpenliebe Buy also argues that even the telephone can be regarded as an "on-line" Alpenliebe Buy experience in some circumstances, and that the blurring of Alpenliebe Buy the distinctions between the uses of various technologies (such as PDA and Alpenliebe Buy mobile telephone, television and Internet, and telephone and voice-over-IP) has made it Alpenliebe Buy "impossible to Alpenliebe Buy use the term 'on-line' meaningfully in the sense that was employed by the first generation of Internet research".[7]
Slater asserts that Alpenliebe Buy there Alpenliebe Buy are legal and regulatory Alpenliebe Buy pressures to reduce the distinction between "on-line" and "off-line", with a "general tendency to Alpenliebe Buy assimilate online to offline and erase the distinction", stressing, however, that this does not mean that on-line relationships are being reduced to pre-existing off-line relationships. Alpenliebe Buy He conjectures that greater legal status may Alpenliebe Buy be Alpenliebe Buy assigned to Alpenliebe Buy on-line relationships (pointing out that contractual relationships, such Alpenliebe Buy as Alpenliebe Buy business transactions, on-line are already seen as just Alpenliebe Buy as "real" Alpenliebe Buy as their off-line counterparts), although Alpenliebe Buy he states it to be hard to imagine courts Alpenliebe Buy awarding palimony to people who have had a purely on-line sexual relationship. He also conjectures that an "on-line"/"off-line" distinction may Alpenliebe Buy be seen Alpenliebe Buy by people as "rather quaint and not quite comprehensible" within 10 years
The Alpenliebe Buy distinction where Alpenliebe Buy "on-line" is seen as virtuality and "off-line" as reality is sometimes Alpenliebe Buy inverted, with "on-line" Alpenliebe Buy concepts being used Alpenliebe Buy to Alpenliebe Buy define and Alpenliebe Buy to explain "off-line" activities, rather than (as per the conventions of the Alpenliebe Buy desktop metaphor with its desktops, trash cans, folders, and so forth) the other way around. Several cartoons by The New Yorker have satirized this. Alpenliebe Buy One includes Saint Peter asking for a user name Alpenliebe Buy and a password before admitting a man into Alpenliebe Buy Heaven. Another illustrates "the off-line store" where "All items Alpenliebe Buy are actual size!", where shoppers may "Take it home as soon as you pay for it!", and where "Merchandise may Alpenliebe Buy be handled prior to purchase!". |
