One example of a common use of these concepts is a Mail User Play Wrestling Games Online Agent that can be instructed to be in either "on-line" or "off-line" Play Wrestling Games Online states. One such MUA is Microsoft Outlook. Play Wrestling Games Online When it is "on-line" it Play Wrestling Games Online will attempt to connect to mail servers (to check for new mail at regular intervals, for example), and Play Wrestling Games Online when it is "off-line" it Play Wrestling Games Online 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, connected to Internet via a cable modem or an ADSL connection, but Play Wrestling Games Online may wish for Outlook to be off-line, so 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 may be an expensive Play Wrestling Games Online telephone Play Wrestling Games Online call from the Play Wrestling Games Online particular location in which the computer currently Play Wrestling Games Online happens to be (such as a hotel Play Wrestling Games Online room) and Play Wrestling Games Online the user may not wish Outlook to trigger making that call every 5 or 10 minutes to check for mail.
Another Play Wrestling Games Online example of the use of these concepts Play Wrestling Games Online is in the world of digital audio technology. A tape recorder, digital editor, or other device that is "on-line" is one whose Play Wrestling Games Online clock is under the control of the clock of a "synchronization master" device. When the Play Wrestling Games Online sync master commences playback, the "on-line" device automatically synchronizes Play Wrestling Games Online itself to Play Wrestling Games Online the master and commences Play Wrestling Games Online playing from the same point in the recording. Play Wrestling Games Online Whereas a device that is Play Wrestling Games Online "off-line" Play Wrestling Games Online uses no external clock reference and relies upon its own internal clock. When a large number of devices are connected to a sync master, it is often convenient, if one Play Wrestling Games Online wants to hear just the output of one single device, to take it off-line, Play Wrestling Games Online because if the device is played back on-line all synchronized devices have to locate the playback point and wait for each other to Play Wrestling Games Online be in synchronization.[2] (For further Play Wrestling Games Online related discussion, see Play Wrestling Games Online MIDI timecode, Play Wrestling Games Online word sync, and recording system synchronization.)
A third example of a common use of these concepts is a web browser that can be instructed to be in either "on-line" or "off-line" states. The browser only Play Wrestling Games Online attempts to fetch Play Wrestling Games Online pages from servers whilst in the "on-line" state. In the "off-line" state, Play Wrestling Games Online users can perform offline 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 computer itself is also off-line, with connection to Internet expensive or impossible. The Play Wrestling Games Online pages are either downloaded implicitly into the web browser's own cache, as a result of prior on-line browsing by the Play Wrestling Games Online user, or explicitly by the browser being configured to keep local copies of certain web pages, which Play Wrestling Games Online it keeps updated when the browser is in the on-line state, either Play Wrestling Games Online by checking that the local copies are up-to-date at regular intervals or by checking that the local Play Wrestling Games Online copies are up-to-date whenever the browser is switched to the Play Wrestling Games Online on-line state. One such web browser capable of being explicitly Play Wrestling Games Online configured to download pages for offline browsing is Internet Play Wrestling Games Online Explorer. When pages are Play Wrestling Games Online added to the "Favourites" list, Play Wrestling Games Online they can be Play Wrestling Games Online marked for being made "available for Play Wrestling Games Online offline Play Wrestling Games Online browsing". Internet Explorer will download to local Play Wrestling Games Online copies both the marked page and, optionally, all of the pages that it links to. Play Wrestling Games Online In Internet Explorer version 6, the level of direct and indirect links, Play Wrestling Games Online the maximum amount of local disc space allowed to be consumed, and the schedule on which local copies are checked to see whether they Play Wrestling Games Online 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 human interpersonal relationships. The distinction between what is considered Play Wrestling Games Online "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 conventionally seen as Play Wrestling Games Online the distinction between computer-mediated communication and face-to-face communication (e.g. face time), respectively. "On-line" Play Wrestling Games Online is virtuality, Play Wrestling Games Online and "off-line" is reality (e.g. Play Wrestling Games Online real life or meatspace). Slater states Play Wrestling Games Online that this distinction is "obviously far too simple". Play Wrestling Games Online To Play Wrestling Games Online support his argument that the distinctions in relationships Play Wrestling Games Online are more complex than a simple "on-line"/"off-line" dichotomy, he observes that some people draw no distinction between an "on-line" relationship, such as indulging in cybersex, and Play Wrestling Games Online an "off-line" relationship, such as being pen-pals. He also argues that even the telephone Play Wrestling Games Online can be regarded as an "on-line" experience in some circumstances, and Play Wrestling Games Online that the blurring of the distinctions between the uses of various technologies (such as PDA and Play Wrestling Games Online mobile Play Wrestling Games Online telephone, television and Internet, and telephone Play Wrestling Games Online and voice-over-IP) has made it "impossible to use the term 'on-line' meaningfully Play Wrestling Games Online in Play Wrestling Games Online the sense that was employed Play Wrestling Games Online by Play Wrestling Games Online the first generation of Internet research".[7]
Slater asserts that there are legal and regulatory pressures to reduce the distinction between "on-line" and "off-line", with a "general tendency to assimilate online Play Wrestling Games Online to offline and erase Play Wrestling Games Online the distinction", stressing, however, Play Wrestling Games Online that this does not mean Play Wrestling Games Online that on-line relationships are being reduced Play Wrestling Games Online to pre-existing off-line 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 already seen as just as "real" as their off-line counterparts), although he states it to be hard Play Wrestling Games Online to imagine courts awarding palimony to people who have had a purely on-line sexual relationship. He also conjectures Play Wrestling Games Online that an "on-line"/"off-line" distinction may be seen by Play Wrestling Games Online people as Play Wrestling Games Online "rather quaint and Play Wrestling Games Online not quite comprehensible" within 10 years
The distinction where "on-line" is seen as virtuality Play Wrestling Games Online and "off-line" as reality is sometimes inverted, with "on-line" concepts being used to Play Wrestling Games Online define and to explain "off-line" activities, Play Wrestling Games Online rather than (as per the conventions of the desktop metaphor with Play Wrestling Games Online its desktops, Play Wrestling Games Online trash cans, folders, and so forth) the other way around. Several cartoons by The New Yorker have satirized this. One includes Play Wrestling Games Online Saint Peter asking for a user name and a password before admitting a man into Play Wrestling Games Online Heaven. Another illustrates "the off-line store" where "All items are actual size!", where shoppers may "Take it home as soon as you pay for it!", and where "Merchandise may be handled prior to purchase!". |
