One example of a common use of these concepts is Best Winter Vacations a Best Winter Vacations Mail User Agent that can be instructed to Best Winter Vacations be in either "on-line" or "off-line" states. One such MUA is Microsoft Outlook. When Best Winter Vacations it is "on-line" it will attempt to connect to mail servers (to check for Best Winter Vacations new mail at Best Winter Vacations regular Best Winter Vacations intervals, for example), and when it is "off-line" it will not attempt to make Best Winter Vacations any such connections. The "on-line" or "off-line" state of the MUA does not Best Winter Vacations necessarily Best Winter Vacations reflect the connection status between the computer on which it is running and Best Winter Vacations Internet. The user may have the computer itself on-line, connected to Internet via a cable modem or an ADSL connection, Best Winter Vacations but may wish for Outlook to be off-line, so that Best Winter Vacations it makes no attempt to send or to receive messages. Best Winter Vacations Or the computer may be configured to employ Best Winter Vacations a dial-up connection on Best Winter Vacations demand (whenever an application such as Outlook attempts to make Best Winter Vacations connection to a server), but the connection may be Best Winter Vacations an Best Marine Gps Reviews expensive telephone call from the Best Winter Vacations particular location in which the computer currently happens to be (such as a hotel room) and the Best Winter Vacations user may not wish Outlook to Best Winter Vacations trigger making that call every 5 or Best Winter Vacations 10 minutes to check for mail.
Another example of the use of these concepts is in the world of digital audio technology. A tape recorder, digital Best Winter Vacations editor, Best Winter Vacations or other device that is "on-line" is one whose clock is under the control of the clock of a "synchronization Best Winter Vacations master" device. When the sync master commences playback, Best Winter Vacations the "on-line" device Best Winter Vacations automatically synchronizes itself to the master Best Winter Vacations 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 Best Winter Vacations of devices are connected to a Best Winter Vacations sync master, it is often convenient, if one wants to hear just the Best Winter Vacations output of Best Winter Vacations one single device, to take it off-line, because if the device is played back on-line all synchronized devices have Best Winter Vacations to locate the playback point and wait for each other to be in Best Winter Vacations synchronization.[2] (For further related discussion, see MIDI timecode, word sync, and recording system synchronization.)
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A third example of a common use of these concepts is a web browser that can be Best Winter Vacations instructed to be in either "on-line" or "off-line" states. The browser Best Winter Vacations only attempts to fetch pages from Best Winter Vacations servers whilst in the "on-line" state. In the "off-line" state, users can perform offline browsing, Best Winter Vacations where Best Winter Vacations pages can be browsed using local Best Winter Vacations copies of those pages that have previously been downloaded whilst in the "on-line" state. This can Best Winter Vacations be useful when the computer itself Best Winter Vacations is also off-line, Best Winter Vacations 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 Best Winter Vacations by Best Winter Vacations the browser being configured to keep local copies of certain web Best Winter Vacations pages, Best Winter Vacations which it keeps updated when the browser is Best Winter Vacations 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 Best Winter Vacations copies are up-to-date whenever the browser is switched to the on-line state. One Best Winter Vacations such web browser capable of being explicitly configured to download pages Best Winter Vacations for offline browsing is Internet Explorer. When pages are added to the "Favourites" list, Best Winter Vacations they can be marked for Best Winter Vacations being made "available for offline browsing". Internet Explorer will download to local copies both the marked Best Winter Vacations page and, optionally, all of the pages that Best Winter Vacations it links Best Winter Vacations to. In Internet Explorer version 6, the level of direct and indirect links, the maximum amount of local disc space allowed to be consumed, Best Winter Vacations and the schedule Best Winter Vacations on which local copies are checked Best Winter Vacations to see whether they are up-to-date, are configurable for each
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The ideas of Best Winter Vacations "on-line" and "off-line" have been generalized from computing and telecommunication Best Winter Vacations into Best Winter Vacations the field of human interpersonal relationships. The 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" and "off-line" is conventionally seen as the distinction between Best Winter Vacations computer-mediated Best Winter Vacations communication and face-to-face communication (e.g. face time), respectively. "On-line" is virtuality, and "off-line" is reality Best Winter Vacations (e.g. real life or meatspace). Slater states that this distinction is "obviously far too simple". To Best Winter Vacations support his argument that the distinctions in relationships are more Best Winter Vacations 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 an "off-line" relationship, such as being pen-pals. He also argues that Best Winter Vacations even the telephone can be regarded as an "on-line" experience in some circumstances, and that the blurring of the distinctions between the uses of various technologies (such as PDA and mobile telephone, television and Internet, Best Winter Vacations and Best Winter Vacations telephone Best Winter Vacations and voice-over-IP) has Best Winter Vacations made it "impossible to use the term 'on-line' meaningfully in the sense that Best Winter Vacations was employed by 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 to offline and erase the distinction", Best Winter Vacations stressing, however, that this does not mean that on-line relationships Best Winter Vacations are being reduced 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 Best Winter Vacations are already seen as just as "real" as their off-line counterparts), although he states it to Best Winter Vacations 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 Best Winter Vacations "rather quaint and not Best Winter Vacations 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, with "on-line" concepts being used to define Best Winter Vacations and to explain "off-line" activities, rather than (as per the conventions of 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 Best Winter Vacations a user Best Winter Vacations name and a password before admitting a man into Heaven. Another illustrates "the off-line store" where "All items are actual Best Winter Vacations size!", where shoppers may Best Winter Vacations "Take it home as soon as you Best Winter Vacations pay for it!", and where "Merchandise may be handled prior to purchase!". |
