One example of a common Best Slr Under use of Best Slr Under these concepts Best Slr Under 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 Best Slr Under "on-line" it Best Wheel Chains will attempt to connect to mail servers (to Best Slr Under check for new mail at regular intervals, for example), and when Best Slr Under it is "off-line" it will not attempt to make any 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 is running and Internet. The user may have the computer itself on-line, Best Slr Under connected to Internet via a cable modem or an ADSL connection, but may wish for Outlook to be off-line, so that it makes Best Slr Under no attempt to Best Slr Under send or to receive messages. Or the computer may be configured to employ a Best Slr Under dial-up connection on demand (whenever Best Slr Under an application Best Slr Under such as Outlook attempts to make connection to a server), but the connection may be an expensive Best Slr Under telephone call from the particular location Best Slr Under in which Best Slr Under the computer currently happens to be (such as a hotel room) and the user may not wish Outlook to trigger making that call every 5 or 10 minutes to check for Best Slr Under mail.
Another example of the use of these Best Slr Under concepts is in the Best Slr Under world of digital audio technology. A tape recorder, digital editor, or other device that is "on-line" Best Slr Under is one whose clock is under the Best Slr Under control of Best Slr Under the clock of a Best Slr Under "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 Best Slr Under that is "off-line" Best Slr Under uses no external clock reference and Best Slr Under relies upon its own internal clock. When a large number of Best Slr Under devices are connected to a sync master, Best Slr Under it is often convenient, if one wants to hear just the Best Slr Under output of one Best Slr Under single Best Slr Under device, to take it off-line, because if the device Best Slr Under is played back on-line all synchronized devices have to locate the Best Slr Under playback point and wait for each other to be in synchronization.[2] (For Best Slr Under further related discussion, see MIDI Best Slr Under timecode, word sync, and recording system synchronization.)
A third example of a common use of these concepts is a web browser that can Best Slr Under be instructed Best Slr Under to be in either "on-line" Best Slr Under or Best Slr Under "off-line" states. The browser only attempts to fetch pages from servers whilst in Best Slr Under the "on-line" state. In the "off-line" state, users can perform offline browsing, where pages can Best Watercolor Pencils be browsed Best Slr Under using local copies of those pages that have previously been downloaded whilst in the "on-line" state. This can be useful Best Slr Under when the computer itself is also off-line, with connection to Internet expensive or impossible. The pages are either downloaded implicitly into the web browser's own cache, as Best Slr Under a Best Slr Under result of prior Best Slr Under on-line browsing by the user, or Best Slr Under explicitly by the browser being configured to keep local copies of certain web pages, Best Slr Under which it keeps updated when the browser is in the on-line state, either by checking that the local copies are up-to-date at regular intervals or by checking that the local copies are up-to-date whenever the browser is switched to the on-line state. One Best Slr Under such web browser capable of being explicitly configured to download pages for offline browsing is Internet Explorer. When pages are added to the "Favourites" list, they can be marked for Best Sounding Mp3 Players being made "available Best Slr Under for offline browsing". Internet Explorer will download to local copies both the marked Best Slr Under page and, optionally, all of the Best Slr Under pages that it links to. In Internet Explorer version 6, the Best Slr Under level of direct and indirect links, the maximum amount of local disc space allowed to be consumed, Best Slr Under and Best Slr Under the schedule Best Slr Under 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 Best Bluetooth Heatsets human Best Slr Under interpersonal relationships. The distinction between what is Best Slr Under considered "on-line" and what is considered "off-line" has become a subject of study in the field of sociology.[7]
The distinction between "on-line" and "off-line" is Best Slr Under conventionally seen Best Slr Under as the distinction between computer-mediated communication and face-to-face communication (e.g. face time), Best Slr Under respectively. "On-line" Best Slr Under is virtuality, and "off-line" is reality (e.g. real life or meatspace). Slater states that Best European Travel this distinction is "obviously far too simple". To 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 Best Slr Under distinction between an "on-line" relationship, Best Slr Under such Best Exchange Rates Glasgow as indulging in cybersex, and an "off-line" relationship, such as being pen-pals. He also argues that even Best Slr Under the telephone can be regarded Best Slr Under 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 and Internet, and telephone and voice-over-IP) has made it "impossible Best Slr Under to use the term 'on-line' meaningfully Best Slr Under in Best Western Peachtree the sense that was employed by the Best Slr Under first generation of Internet research".[7]
Slater asserts that there Best Slr Under are legal and regulatory pressures Best Slr Under to reduce the distinction between "on-line" and "off-line", with a "general tendency to assimilate online to offline and erase the distinction", stressing, however, that this does not mean that on-line relationships Best Slr Under are First Oscar Award For Best Actor being reduced to Best Slr Under pre-existing off-line relationships. He conjectures that greater legal status may be assigned to on-line relationships Best Bluetooth Wireless Headset (pointing out that contractual relationships, such as business transactions, Best Slr Under on-line are already Best Slr Under seen as just as "real" as their Best Slr Under off-line counterparts), although he states it to be hard to imagine Best Slr Under courts awarding palimony to people who have had a purely on-line sexual Best Slr Under relationship. He also conjectures that an "on-line"/"off-line" distinction may be seen by people as "rather quaint and not quite comprehensible" within 10 years
The distinction Best Slr Under where "on-line" is seen as virtuality and "off-line" as reality is sometimes inverted, with "on-line" concepts being used to define Best Slr Under and to Best Slr Under explain "off-line" activities, rather than (as per the conventions of the desktop metaphor with its Best Slr Under desktops, trash cans, folders, and so Best Slr Under 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 Best Slr Under before admitting a man into Heaven. Another illustrates "the off-line store" Best Slr Under where "All items are actual size!", where shoppers may "Take Best Slr Under it Best Slr Under home as soon as you Cyber Monday Best Deals pay for it!", and where "Merchandise may be handled prior to purchase!". |
