One example of a common use Best Spy Ware Software of these concepts is a Mail User Agent that can be Best Spy Ware Software instructed to be in either "on-line" or "off-line" states. One such Best Spy Ware Software MUA is Microsoft Outlook. When Best Spy Ware Software it is "on-line" it will attempt to connect to mail servers (to check for new mail at regular intervals, for example), and when Best Weight Loss Sites it is Best Spy Ware Software "off-line" it will not attempt to make any such connections. The "on-line" or "off-line" state of the Best Spy Ware Software 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 Best Spy Ware Software on-line, 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 computer may be configured Best Spy Ware Software to employ Best Spy Ware Software a dial-up connection on demand (whenever an application such as Outlook attempts to make connection to a server), Best Spy Ware Software but the connection may be an expensive 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 Best Spy Ware Software making that call every 5 or 10 minutes to Best Razer Mouse check for mail.
Another example of the use of Best Spy Ware Software these concepts is in Best Spy Ware Software the world of digital audio Best Spy Ware Software technology. A tape recorder, digital editor, or other device that is "on-line" is one Best Spy Ware Software whose clock is Best Spy Ware Software under the Best Spy Ware Software control of Best Spy Ware Software the Best Spy Ware Software clock of a Best Spy Ware Software "synchronization master" device. When the sync master commences playback, Best Spy Ware Software the "on-line" device automatically synchronizes itself to the master and commences Best Spy Ware Software playing from the Best Spy Ware Software same point in the recording. Whereas a device that is Best Spy Ware Software "off-line" uses no external clock reference and relies upon its own internal clock. When a large number of devices Best Spy Ware Software are connected to a sync master, it is often convenient, if one wants Best Spy Ware Software to hear just the output Best Spy Ware Software of one single device, to take it off-line, because if Best Spy Ware Software the device is played back Best Spy Ware Software on-line all synchronized devices have to locate the playback point and wait for each other to be in synchronization.[2] (For further related discussion, see MIDI timecode, word sync, Best Spy Ware Software and recording system synchronization.)
A third example Best Spy Ware Software of a common use of these Best Spy Ware Software concepts is a 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 Best Spy Ware Software whilst in the "on-line" state. In Best Spy Ware Software the "off-line" state, users can perform offline browsing, where pages Best Spy Ware Software can be browsed using Best Spy Ware Software local Best Spy Ware Software 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 Best Spy Ware Software off-line, with connection to Internet expensive or impossible. The pages Best Spy Ware Software are either downloaded implicitly into the web browser's own Best Spy Ware Software cache, Best Spy Ware Software as a Taco Best result of prior on-line browsing by the user, or explicitly Best Spy Ware Software by the browser being configured to keep local copies of Best Spy Ware Software certain web Best Towns In North Carolina pages, which it keeps updated when the browser is in the on-line Best Spy Ware Software state, either by checking that the Best Spy Ware Software local copies are up-to-date at Best Spy Ware Software regular intervals or by checking that the local copies are up-to-date whenever the browser is switched to the Best Spy Ware Software on-line state. One such web browser capable of being explicitly configured to Best Spy Ware Software download pages for offline browsing is Internet Explorer. When pages are added to the "Favourites" list, they can Best Spy Ware Software be marked for being made "available for offline Best Spy Ware Software browsing". Internet Explorer will download to local copies both the marked page and, optionally, all of the pages Best Spy Ware Software that it links to. In Internet Explorer version 6, the level of direct Best Spy Ware Software and indirect links, the maximum Best Spy Ware Software amount of Best Spy Ware Software local disc Best Spy Ware Software space allowed to be consumed, and the schedule on which local copies are checked to see Best Spy Ware Software whether they are Best Spy Ware Software up-to-date, are configurable for each
The ideas of "on-line" and "off-line" Best Price Nokia have been generalized from computing and Best Spy Ware Software telecommunication into the field of human interpersonal Best Spy Ware Software relationships. The distinction between Best Spy Ware Software what is considered "on-line" and what is considered Best Spy Ware Software "off-line" has Best Spy Ware Software 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 computer-mediated communication and face-to-face communication (e.g. face time), respectively. "On-line" is virtuality, and "off-line" is reality (e.g. real life or meatspace). Slater Best Spy Ware Software states that this distinction is "obviously far too simple". To support his argument Best Spy Ware Software that the distinctions in relationships Best Spy Ware Software are more complex than a simple "on-line"/"off-line" dichotomy, Best Spy Ware Software he observes that some people draw no distinction between an "on-line" relationship, such as indulging in cybersex, and an Best Spy Ware Software "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 between the uses of various Best Spy Ware Software 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 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", stressing, however, that this does not mean that on-line relationships are being reduced to pre-existing off-line relationships. He conjectures that greater legal status Best Spy Ware Software may be assigned to on-line relationships (pointing out that contractual relationships, such as business transactions, on-line Best Spy Ware Software are already seen as just as "real" as their off-line counterparts), although Best Spot Cleaner he Best Spy Ware Software states it to be hard to imagine courts awarding palimony to people who have had a purely Best Spy Ware Software on-line sexual relationship. He also conjectures Best Spy Ware Software that 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" Best Spy Ware Software is Best Spy Ware Software seen as virtuality and "off-line" as reality is sometimes inverted, with "on-line" concepts being used to define and to explain "off-line" activities, Best Spy Ware Software rather than (as per the conventions of Best Spy Ware Software the desktop metaphor with its desktops, trash cans, folders, and Best Spy Ware Software so Best Spy Ware Software forth) the other way around. Several cartoons Best Spy Ware Software by The New Yorker have Best Spy Ware Software satirized this. One includes Saint Peter asking for a user Best Spy Ware Software name and a password before admitting a Best Spy Ware Software man into Best Spy Ware Software Heaven. Another illustrates "the off-line Best Spy Ware Software 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!". |
