One example of a common use of these concepts is a Mail User Agent Best Hgh that can Best Biscuits Recipe 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 to Best Hgh connect Best Hgh to mail servers (to check for new mail at regular intervals, for example), and when Best Hgh it is "off-line" it will not attempt to make any such connections. The "on-line" Best Hgh 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, connected to Internet via a cable modem or an Best Hgh ADSL Best Hgh connection, but may wish for Outlook to be off-line, so Best Hgh 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 application such as Outlook attempts to make connection to a server), but the connection Best Air Travel Deals may be an expensive Best Hgh 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 Best Hgh for Best Hgh mail.
Another example of the use of these concepts is in the world of digital audio technology. Best Hgh A tape recorder, digital editor, or other device that is "on-line" Best Hgh is one whose clock is under the control of the clock of Best Hgh a Best Hgh "synchronization master" device. When Best Hgh 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 that is Best Hgh "off-line" uses no external Best Hgh clock reference and relies upon its own internal clock. When a large number Best Hgh of devices are connected to a Best Hgh sync master, it is Best Hgh often convenient, if one wants to hear just the output of Best Hgh one single device, to take it off-line, because if the Best Hgh device Best Hgh is Best Hgh played back on-line all synchronized devices have to locate the playback point and Best Hgh wait for each other to be in synchronization.[2] (For further related discussion, see MIDI timecode, word sync, and recording system synchronization.)
A third example of a common use of these concepts is a Best Hgh web browser that 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 browsing, where pages can be browsed using local copies of those pages that have previously been downloaded whilst Best Hgh in the "on-line" state. This can be useful when the computer Best Hgh 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 a result of prior on-line browsing Best Hgh by the user, Best Hgh or explicitly Best Hgh 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 Best Hgh are up-to-date at Best Hgh regular intervals or by checking that Best Western New Hope Inn the Best Hgh local copies Best Hgh are up-to-date Best Hgh whenever the browser is switched to the on-line state. One such web browser capable Best Hgh of being Best Hgh explicitly configured to download pages for offline browsing is Internet Explorer. When Best Hgh pages are Best Hgh 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 Best Hgh of Best Hgh the pages that it links to. In Internet Explorer version 6, the level of direct Best Prices Claritin D and indirect links, the maximum amount Best Hgh of local disc space allowed to be consumed, and the schedule on Best Hgh which local copies Best Hgh are checked to see whether they are up-to-date, are configurable for each
|
The ideas of "on-line" and "off-line" have been Best Hgh generalized from Best Hgh computing and telecommunication into the field Best Hgh of human interpersonal relationships. The distinction between what is considered "on-line" and what is considered "off-line" has become Best Hgh a subject of study in the field of sociology.[7]
The distinction between "on-line" and "off-line" is Best Hgh conventionally Best Hgh seen as the distinction between computer-mediated communication and face-to-face Best Hgh communication (e.g. face time), Best Hgh respectively. "On-line" is virtuality, and "off-line" is reality (e.g. real life or meatspace). Slater states that this distinction is "obviously far too simple". To support his Best Hgh argument that the distinctions in relationships are more complex than a simple "on-line"/"off-line" dichotomy, he Best Hgh observes that some people draw no distinction between an "on-line" relationship, such as indulging in cybersex, Best Hgh and an "off-line" relationship, such Best Hgh as being pen-pals. He also Best Hgh argues that even Best Hgh the telephone can be regarded as Best Hgh an "on-line" experience in some circumstances, and that the Best Hgh blurring of the distinctions between Best Hgh the uses of various Best Hgh technologies (such as PDA and mobile telephone, television and Internet, and telephone and voice-over-IP) has made it "impossible to use the term Best Way To Make Money Online 'on-line' meaningfully in Best Diet Pill Which the sense that was employed by the first generation of Internet Best Hgh research".[7]
Slater Best Hgh asserts that there are legal and regulatory pressures to reduce the distinction between "on-line" and "off-line", Best Make Money Online with a "general Best Hgh The Best Groomsmen Gifts tendency to Best Hgh assimilate online to offline and erase the distinction", stressing, however, that this does Best Hgh not mean that on-line relationships are being Best Hgh reduced to pre-existing off-line relationships. He conjectures that greater legal status may be assigned to Best Hgh on-line relationships (pointing out that contractual relationships, such as business transactions, on-line Best Hgh are already seen as just as "real" as Best Hgh their off-line counterparts), although he states it to be Best Hgh hard to imagine courts Best Hgh awarding palimony to people who have had a purely Best Hgh on-line sexual relationship. He also conjectures that Best Hgh 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 Best Hgh seen as virtuality and "off-line" as reality is sometimes inverted, with "on-line" concepts being used to define and to explain "off-line" Best Hgh activities, rather than (as per the conventions Best Hgh of the desktop metaphor with its desktops, trash cans, folders, Best Bingo Online and so forth) Best Hgh the other way around. Several cartoons by The New Best Hgh Yorker Best Hgh have satirized this. One includes Saint 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 Hgh "Take it home as soon Best Hgh as you pay for it!", and where "Merchandise may be handled prior to purchase!". |
