One example of a common use of these concepts is a Best Selling Computer Software Mail User Agent that can be instructed to be in either "on-line" Best Selling Computer Software 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 at regular intervals, Best Selling Computer Software for example), and when it is "off-line" it will not attempt to make Best Western Az any such connections. The "on-line" or "off-line" state of the MUA does not necessarily Best Selling Computer Software reflect Best Selling Computer Software the connection status between the computer Best Selling Computer Software on which it is running Best Hp Pda and Internet. The user may have the computer itself on-line, connected to Best Selling Computer Software Internet via a cable modem or an ADSL connection, Best Selling Computer Software but may wish for Outlook to be off-line, Best Selling Computer Software so that it makes Best Selling Computer Software no attempt Best Selling Computer Software to send or to receive messages. Or the computer may be configured to employ a dial-up connection Best Selling Computer Software on demand (whenever an application 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 the computer Best Selling Computer Software currently happens to be (such Best Selling Computer Software as Best Selling Computer Software a hotel room) and the user may not wish Outlook to trigger making that call every 5 or 10 Best Selling Computer Software minutes to check for mail.
Another Best Selling Computer Software example of the use of these concepts is Best Selling Computer Software 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 Best Selling Computer Software the control of the clock of a Best Selling Computer Software "synchronization master" device. When the sync master commences playback, Best Selling Computer Software the "on-line" device automatically synchronizes Best Selling Computer Software itself to the master and commences Best Selling Computer Software playing from the same point in the recording. Whereas a device that is "off-line" uses no external clock reference and Best Selling Computer Software relies upon Best Selling Computer Software its own internal Best Selling Computer Software clock. When a Best Selling Computer Software large number of devices are connected to a sync master, it Best Selling Computer Software is often convenient, if one Best Selling Computer Software wants Best Selling Computer Software to hear just Best Selling Computer Software the output of Best Selling Computer Software 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 for each other to Best Selling Computer Software be in synchronization.[2] (For further related discussion, see MIDI timecode, word sync, and recording system synchronization.)
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A third example of a Best Selling Computer Software common use of these concepts is a web browser that Best Selling Computer Software 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 Best Selling Computer Software browsing, where pages can be browsed using local Best Selling Computer Software copies of those pages that have previously been downloaded whilst in the "on-line" state. This can be useful when the computer itself is also off-line, with connection to Internet expensive or impossible. The pages are either downloaded Best Selling Computer Software implicitly Best Selling Computer Software into the web browser's own cache, as a result of prior on-line browsing by Best Selling Computer Software the user, Best Selling Computer Software or explicitly by the browser 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 whenever the Best Selling Computer Software browser is switched to the on-line state. One such Best Selling Computer Software web browser Best Used Car Website capable of being explicitly configured to download pages for offline browsing is Internet Explorer. Best Selling Computer Software When pages Best Selling Computer Software are added to the "Favourites" 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 Best Selling Computer Software Best Western Grand Junction pages that it links Best Selling Computer Software to. In Internet Explorer version 6, the level of direct and indirect links, the maximum amount Best Selling Computer Software of Best Selling Computer Software local disc space allowed to be consumed, Best Selling Computer Software and the schedule Best Selling Computer Software on which local copies are checked to see whether Best Scanner Negatives Slides 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 Best Selling Computer Software computing and telecommunication Best Selling Computer Software into the field of human interpersonal relationships. The distinction between what is considered "on-line" Best Selling Computer Software 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 conventionally seen as the distinction between computer-mediated communication and face-to-face communication (e.g. Best Selling Computer Software face time), respectively. "On-line" is virtuality, and "off-line" is reality (e.g. real life or meatspace). Slater Best Selling Computer Software states that Best Selling Computer Software 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 distinction between Best Selling Computer Software an "on-line" relationship, such as indulging in cybersex, and an "off-line" relationship, such as being pen-pals. He also argues that even the telephone can be Best Selling Computer Software regarded as Best Selling Computer Software an "on-line" Best Selling Computer Software experience in some circumstances, and that the blurring of the distinctions between the uses of various technologies Best Selling Computer Software Cute Best Friend Sayings (such as PDA and mobile telephone, television and Internet, and telephone and voice-over-IP) has made it Best Selling Computer Software "impossible to use the term 'on-line' meaningfully Best Selling Computer Software in the Best Selling Computer Software sense that was employed by the first generation of Internet research".[7]
Slater Best Selling Computer Software asserts that there are legal Best Selling Computer Software and regulatory pressures to reduce the distinction between "on-line" and "off-line", Best Selling Computer Software with a "general Best Selling Computer Software tendency to assimilate online to offline and Best Selling Computer Software erase the distinction", Best Selling Computer Software stressing, however, that this does not mean that on-line relationships Best Selling Computer Software are being Best Selling Computer Software reduced to pre-existing off-line Best Selling Computer Software 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 Best Selling Computer Software already seen as Best Selling Computer Software just as "real" as their off-line counterparts), although he states it to be Best Selling Computer Software hard to imagine courts awarding Best Selling Computer Software 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 Best Selling Computer Software people as "rather quaint Best Selling Computer Software and not quite comprehensible" within 10 years
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The distinction where "on-line" is seen as virtuality and "off-line" as reality is sometimes inverted, Best Selling Computer Software with "on-line" concepts being used to define and to explain "off-line" activities, rather than (as per the conventions of Best Selling Computer Software 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 Saint Peter asking for a Best Selling Computer Software user name and a password before admitting a man into Heaven. Another illustrates "the off-line store" where "All items are Best Selling Computer Software actual size!", where shoppers may "Take it home as soon as you pay for Best Selling Computer Software it!", and where "Merchandise may be handled prior to purchase!". |
