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