One 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 Best Pc Sound Card to connect to mail servers (to check for new mail at regular intervals, for example), and when it is Best Pc Sound Card "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 Best Pc Sound Card Internet. The user may have the Best Pc Sound Card computer itself on-line, connected The Best Pda Cellular Phone to Internet via a cable modem or an ADSL connection, but may wish for Outlook to be off-line, Best Pc Sound Card so that it makes no attempt to send or to receive messages. Or the computer may Best Pc Sound Card be configured to employ a dial-up Best Pc Sound Card connection on demand (whenever an application such as Outlook attempts to make connection to a server), but the connection may be an Best Pc Sound Card expensive telephone call from the Best Pc Sound Card particular location in which the computer currently happens to be (such Best Pc Sound Card as a hotel room) and the user may not wish Outlook to trigger The Best Free Web Hosting Services making that call every 5 or 10 minutes to check for mail.
Another example of the use of these concepts is in the Best Pc Sound Card world Best Pc Sound Card of digital audio technology. A tape recorder, The Best Tube Amplifier Guitar digital editor, or other Best Pc Sound Card device that is "on-line" is one whose clock is under the control of the clock of a "synchronization master" device. When the sync master commences playback, the Best Pc Sound Card "on-line" device automatically synchronizes itself to the master and commences playing from the The Best Free Web Hosting same point in the recording. Whereas a device that Best Pc Sound Card is "off-line" uses no external clock Best Pc Sound Card reference Best Pc Sound Card and relies upon its own internal clock. When a large number of devices are connected to a sync master, it is often Best Pc Sound Card convenient, if one wants to Best Pc Sound Card hear just the Best Pc Sound Card output of one single device, Best Pc Sound Card to take it off-line, because if the Best Pc Sound Card device is played back on-line all synchronized devices have to locate the playback point and wait for each other to be in Best Pc Sound Card synchronization.[2] (For Best Pc Sound Card further related discussion, see MIDI timecode, word sync, and recording system synchronization.)
A third example of Best Pc Sound Card a common use Best Pc Sound Card of these concepts is a web browser that can be instructed to be in either "on-line" or "off-line" Best Pc Sound Card states. The Best Pc Sound Card browser only attempts to fetch pages from servers whilst in the "on-line" state. In the "off-line" state, Best Pc Sound Card users can perform offline browsing, where pages can be browsed Best Pc Sound Card using local copies of those pages that have previously been downloaded whilst in the "on-line" state. This can be useful when Home Subwoofer Ratings Rankings Best the computer itself is also off-line, with connection to Internet expensive or impossible. The pages are either downloaded Best Pc Sound Card implicitly into the web browser's own cache, Best Pc Sound Card as a result of prior on-line browsing by the user, Best Pc Sound Card or Best Pc Sound Card explicitly by the browser being configured Best Pc Sound Card to keep local copies of certain web pages, which it keeps updated when Best Pc Sound Card the browser is in the on-line state, either by checking that the local copies are up-to-date at regular intervals or Best Pc Sound Card by checking that the local copies are up-to-date whenever the browser is Best Pc Sound Card switched to the on-line Best Pc Sound Card state. One Best Pc Sound Card such web browser capable of being explicitly configured to download Best Pc Sound Card pages for offline Best Pc Sound Card browsing is Internet Explorer. When pages are added Best Pc Sound Card to the "Favourites" list, they can be marked for being made "available for offline browsing". Internet Explorer will download to local copies both Best Pc Sound Card the marked page The Best Music Sites For Mp3 and, optionally, all of the pages that it links to. In Internet Explorer version 6, The Best Wireless Security Cameras the level of direct and indirect links, Best Pc Sound Card the maximum amount of local disc Best Pc Sound Card space allowed to be Best Pc Sound Card consumed, and the schedule on which local copies Best Pc Sound Card are Best Pc Sound Card checked Best Pc Sound Card to see Best Pc Sound Card whether they are up-to-date, are configurable for each
|
The ideas of "on-line" Best Pc Sound Card and "off-line" have been generalized from computing and telecommunication into the field of human interpersonal relationships. Best Pc Sound Card The distinction between what is considered "on-line" and what is considered "off-line" has Best Pc Sound Card become a subject of study in the field of sociology.[7]
The distinction Best Photo Quality Printer between "on-line" and "off-line" is conventionally seen as the distinction between computer-mediated communication Best Pc Sound Card and face-to-face communication (e.g. face time), Best Pc Sound Card respectively. "On-line" is virtuality, and "off-line" is reality (e.g. real life or meatspace). Best Pc Sound Card Slater states that this distinction is "obviously far too simple". To support his argument that the distinctions in Best Pc Sound Card relationships are more complex than Best Pc Sound Card a simple Best Pc Sound Card "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 "off-line" relationship, such as being pen-pals. He also argues that even the telephone can be regarded as an "on-line" experience in Best Pc Sound Card some circumstances, and that Best Pc Sound Card the blurring of Best Pc Sound Card the Best Pc Sound Card distinctions between the uses Best Pc Sound Card 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 Best Pc Sound Card by the first generation of Internet research".[7]
Slater asserts that there are legal and regulatory Best Pc Sound Card pressures to reduce the distinction between Best Pc Sound Card "on-line" and "off-line", with a Best Pc Sound Card "general tendency to assimilate online to offline and erase the distinction", stressing, however, that this does not mean Best Pc Sound Card that on-line relationships Best Pc Sound Card are being reduced to pre-existing off-line relationships. Best Pc Sound Card He conjectures that greater legal status may be assigned to Best Pc Sound Card on-line relationships (pointing out that Best Pc Sound Card contractual relationships, such as business transactions, on-line Best Pc Sound Card are already seen as just Best Pc Sound Card as "real" as their off-line counterparts), although he states it to Best Pc Sound Card be hard to imagine courts awarding palimony to Best Pc Sound Card people Best Pc Sound Card who have had a purely on-line sexual relationship. He also conjectures that an "on-line"/"off-line" distinction may be Best Pc Sound Card 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 inverted, with "on-line" concepts being Best Pc Sound Card used to define and to explain "off-line" activities, rather than (as per the conventions of the desktop metaphor with its desktops, Best Pc Sound Card trash cans, folders, and so forth) the other way around. Several cartoons by The New Yorker have satirized this. One includes Saint Best Pc Sound Card Peter asking for a user name and a password before admitting a man into Heaven. Another illustrates "the off-line store" where "All items are actual size!", where shoppers may Best Pc Sound Card "Take it home as soon as you pay for it!", and Best Pc Sound Card where "Merchandise may be handled prior to purchase!". |
