One example of a common use of these concepts is a Mail User Agent Best Alltime Movies that can be instructed to be in Best Western Az either "on-line" or "off-line" states. One such MUA is Microsoft Outlook. When Best Western Az it is "on-line" it will attempt to connect to mail servers (to check for new mail 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 Best Western Az the MUA does not necessarily reflect the Best Western Az connection status between the computer on which it is running and Best Western Az Internet. The user may have the computer itself on-line, connected to Internet via a cable modem Best Western Az or an ADSL connection, but may wish for Outlook to Best Western Az be off-line, so that it makes Best Western Az no attempt to send or Best Western Az to receive messages. Or the computer may be configured Best Western Az to employ a dial-up connection on Best Western Az demand (whenever Best Western Az an application Heritage Harley Davidson Best Price such Best Western Az as Outlook attempts to make connection to a server), Best Western Az but the connection may Best Western Az be Best Western Az an expensive telephone call from the particular location in which 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 mail.
Another example Best Western Az of the use of these concepts Best Western Az is in the world of digital audio technology. A tape recorder, digital Best Western Az editor, or other device that is "on-line" is one whose Best Western Az clock Best Western Az is under the control of the clock of a Best Mens Watches "synchronization master" device. When the sync master commences playback, the "on-line" device Best Western Az automatically synchronizes Best Western Az 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 Best Western Az to a sync master, it is often convenient, if one wants to hear Best Western Az just the output of one single device, to take Best Western Az it Best Western Az off-line, because if the device is Best Western Az played Best Western Az back on-line all synchronized devices have to locate the playback Best Western Az point Best Western Az and wait for Best Western Az each other to be in synchronization.[2] (For further related discussion, see MIDI timecode, word sync, and recording Best Western Az system synchronization.)
A Best Western Az third example of a common use of these concepts is a web browser Best Western Az that can be instructed to be in either "on-line" or "off-line" states. The browser only attempts Best Western Az to fetch pages Best Western Az from servers whilst in the "on-line" state. In the "off-line" state, users can perform offline Best Western Az 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 Best Western Az computer itself is Best Western Az also 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 by the user, or explicitly by the browser Best Laundry Room Designs being configured to keep local copies of certain web pages, 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 Best Western Az whenever Best Western Az the browser is switched to the on-line state. One such web browser capable Best Western Az of being explicitly configured to download pages for offline browsing is Internet Best Western Az Explorer. When pages are added to the "Favourites" list, they can be marked for being made "available for Best Western Az offline browsing". Internet Explorer will download to local copies both the marked page Best Western Az and, optionally, all of the pages that it links to. In Internet Explorer version 6, the level of direct and indirect links, the maximum Best Western Az amount of local disc space allowed Best Western Az to be consumed, and the schedule Best Western Az on which local copies are Best Western Az checked Best Western Az 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 telecommunication Best Western Az into the field Best Western Az of human Best Western Az interpersonal relationships. The Best Western Az distinction between what is 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" Best Western Az and "off-line" Best Western Az is Best Western Az conventionally seen as the distinction between computer-mediated communication and face-to-face communication (e.g. face Best Western Az time), respectively. "On-line" is Best Western Az virtuality, and "off-line" is reality (e.g. real life or meatspace). Slater states Best Western Az that this distinction is "obviously far Best Western Az too simple". To support his argument that the distinctions in relationships are more complex than a simple "on-line"/"off-line" dichotomy, he Best Western Az observes that some people draw no distinction Best Western Az between an "on-line" relationship, such as indulging in Best Western Az cybersex, and an "off-line" relationship, such as being pen-pals. He also argues that even the telephone Best Western Az can be regarded as an "on-line" experience in some Best Western Az circumstances, Best Winter Tires Ottawaontario Canada and Best Western Az 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 to use the term 'on-line' meaningfully in the sense that was employed by the first generation of Internet research".[7]
Slater asserts that there are legal and regulatory pressures to reduce the Best Western Az distinction between "on-line" and "off-line", with a Best Western Az "general tendency to assimilate online to offline Best Western Az and erase the distinction", stressing, however, Best Western Az that this does not mean that on-line relationships Best Western Az are Best Gps Software For Pocket Pc being reduced Best Western Az to pre-existing off-line relationships. He Best Western Az conjectures that greater legal Best Fitness Nashua Nh status may be assigned to on-line relationships (pointing out that contractual relationships, such as business transactions, on-line Best Western Az are already seen as just as "real" as their off-line counterparts), Best Western Az although he states it to be hard to imagine courts awarding palimony to people who have had a purely on-line sexual 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 where "on-line" is seen as virtuality and "off-line" as reality is sometimes Best Western Az inverted, with "on-line" concepts being used to define and to explain "off-line" activities, rather than (as per Best Western Az the conventions of the desktop metaphor with its desktops, trash cans, folders, and so forth) the other way around. Several cartoons Best Western Az by The New Yorker have satirized this. One includes Saint Peter asking for a user name and a Best Western Az password before admitting a man into Heaven. Best Western Az Another illustrates "the off-line store" Best Western Az where "All items are actual Best Western Az size!", where shoppers may "Take it home as soon as you pay for it!", and where "Merchandise may be handled prior to Best Western Az purchase!". |
