One example of a common use of these concepts is Homer Laughlin Best China 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 to connect to mail Homer Laughlin Best China servers (to check for new mail at regular intervals, for example), and when it is "off-line" it will not attempt to Best Fantasy Films make any Homer Laughlin Best China 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 Homer Laughlin Best China Internet. The user may have the computer itself on-line, Homer Laughlin Best China connected to Internet via a cable modem or an ADSL connection, but may wish for Outlook to be off-line, so that it makes no attempt to send or to receive messages. Or the Homer Laughlin Best China 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), Homer Laughlin Best China but the connection may be an expensive telephone call from the particular location Homer Laughlin Best China in which the computer currently happens to be (such as a Homer Laughlin Best China hotel room) and the user Homer Laughlin Best China may not wish Outlook to trigger making that call every 5 or 10 minutes to check for mail.
Another example of the use of these concepts is in the world of digital audio technology. A tape Homer Laughlin Best China recorder, digital Homer Laughlin Best China editor, or other device that is "on-line" is Homer Laughlin Best China one whose Homer Laughlin Best China clock Homer Laughlin Best China is under the control of the clock of a "synchronization master" device. When the sync master commences playback, the "on-line" device automatically synchronizes Best Pitching Decade itself to the master 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. Homer Laughlin Best China When a large number of Homer Laughlin Best China devices are connected to a sync master, it is often convenient, if one wants to hear just the output of one Homer Laughlin Best China single Homer Laughlin Best China 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 be in synchronization.[2] Homer Laughlin Best China (For further related discussion, see MIDI timecode, word sync, and recording system synchronization.)
A third Homer Laughlin Best China example of a common use of these concepts is a web browser Homer Laughlin Best China 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 Homer Laughlin Best China pages can Homer Laughlin Best China 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 Homer Laughlin Best China 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 by the browser being configured to keep local copies of certain web pages, which it keeps updated Homer Laughlin Best China 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 Homer Laughlin Best China are up-to-date whenever the browser is Homer Laughlin Best China switched Homer Laughlin Best China to the on-line state. One Homer Laughlin Best China such web browser capable of being explicitly configured Homer Laughlin Best China to download pages for offline browsing Homer Laughlin Best China is Homer Laughlin Best China Internet Explorer. When pages are added to the "Favourites" list, they can be Homer Laughlin Best China marked for being Homer Laughlin Best China made Homer Laughlin Best China "available for offline browsing". Internet Explorer will download to local copies both the marked page and, optionally, all of the pages that it links to. In Internet Explorer version 6, the level of direct and indirect links, the maximum amount of local Best Buy Mobile disc space Homer Laughlin Best China allowed Homer Laughlin Best China to Homer Laughlin Best China be consumed, and the schedule on which local copies are checked to see whether they are up-to-date, are configurable for each
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The Homer Laughlin Best China ideas of "on-line" and "off-line" have Homer Laughlin Best China been generalized from Homer Laughlin Best China computing and telecommunication Homer Laughlin Best China into the field of human interpersonal relationships. The distinction between what is considered "on-line" and what is considered "off-line" has Homer Laughlin Best China become a Homer Laughlin Best China subject of study Homer Laughlin Best China in the field Homer Laughlin Best China of sociology.[7]
The distinction Homer Laughlin Best China between "on-line" and "off-line" Homer Laughlin Best China is conventionally seen as the distinction between computer-mediated communication and face-to-face communication (e.g. Homer Laughlin Best China face time), respectively. "On-line" is virtuality, Homer Laughlin Best China and Homer Laughlin Best China "off-line" is reality (e.g. Homer Laughlin Best China real life or Bmi Is The Best Way meatspace). Slater states Homer Laughlin Best China that this Homer Laughlin Best China 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 Homer Laughlin Best China that some people draw no distinction between Homer Laughlin Best China an "on-line" relationship, such as indulging Homer Laughlin Best China in Homer Laughlin Best China 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 some circumstances, and that the blurring of the distinctions Homer Laughlin Best China between the uses 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 Reviews Of Best Music Download Sites was employed by the first generation of Internet Homer Laughlin Best China research".[7]
Slater asserts that there are Homer Laughlin Best China legal Homer Laughlin Best China and regulatory Homer Laughlin Best China pressures to reduce the Homer Laughlin Best China distinction between "on-line" and "off-line", with a "general tendency to assimilate online to offline and erase the distinction", stressing, however, that this does not mean that on-line relationships are being reduced to pre-existing off-line Homer Laughlin Best China relationships. He conjectures that greater legal status may be assigned to on-line Homer Laughlin Best China relationships (pointing out that contractual relationships, such as business transactions, on-line are already Homer Laughlin Best China seen as just as "real" as their off-line counterparts), although he states it to be hard to Homer Laughlin Best China imagine courts awarding palimony to people who Homer Laughlin Best China have had a purely on-line sexual relationship. He also conjectures that an "on-line"/"off-line" distinction may be seen Homer Laughlin Best China by people as "rather quaint and not quite comprehensible" within 10 years
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The distinction where "on-line" is Homer Laughlin Best China seen as virtuality and "off-line" as Homer Laughlin Best China reality is sometimes inverted, with "on-line" concepts Homer Laughlin Best China being Homer Laughlin Best China used to define and to explain "off-line" activities, rather than (as per the conventions of the desktop metaphor with its Homer Laughlin Best China desktops, trash Homer Laughlin Best China cans, folders, and so Homer Laughlin Best China forth) the Homer Laughlin Best China other way around. Several cartoons by The New Yorker Homer Laughlin Best China have satirized this. One includes Saint Homer Laughlin Best China Peter asking for a user name and a Homer Laughlin Best China password Homer Laughlin Best China Consumer S Guide To Best Camcorders before admitting a man Homer Laughlin Best China into Heaven. Another illustrates "the off-line store" where "All items are actual Homer Laughlin Best China size!", where shoppers may "Take it home as soon as you pay for it!", and where "Merchandise may be handled prior to purchase!". |
