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