One example of a common use of these concepts is a Mail User Agent that can be instructed to be in Best Pre Battle Speech either "on-line" or Best Pre Battle Speech "off-line" states. One such MUA is Microsoft Outlook. When it is "on-line" it will attempt to connect to mail servers (to check for new mail at regular intervals, for example), and when it is "off-line" it will not attempt to make any such connections. The "on-line" or Song Best Friends "off-line" state of the MUA does not necessarily reflect the connection status between the Best Pre Battle Speech computer Best Pre Battle Speech on which it Best Pre Battle Speech is running and Internet. The user may have the computer itself on-line, connected to Internet via a Best Pre Battle Speech cable modem or an Best Pre Battle Speech ADSL connection, but may wish for Outlook to Best Pre Battle Speech be Best Pre Battle Speech 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 Best Pre Battle Speech connection to a server), but the connection may be an expensive telephone Best Pre Battle Speech 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 Best Pre Battle Speech trigger making Best Pre Battle Speech that call Best Pre Battle Speech every Best Pre Battle Speech 5 or 10 minutes Best Pre Battle Speech to check for mail.
Another example Best Pre Battle Speech of the use of these concepts is in the Best Pre Battle Speech world of digital audio technology. A tape recorder, digital editor, or Best Pre Battle Speech other device that is "on-line" is one whose clock is under the control of the clock of a "synchronization master" Best Pre Battle Speech device. When the sync master commences Best Automatic Pool Cleaners 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 "off-line" uses no external clock reference and relies upon its own internal Best Pre Battle Speech clock. When a large number of devices are connected to a Best Pre Battle Speech sync master, it is often convenient, if one wants to hear just the output of one single device, to take it off-line, because if the device is Best Pre Battle Speech played back on-line all synchronized devices have to locate the playback Best Pre Battle Speech point and wait for each other to be in synchronization.[2] (For further related discussion, Best Pre Battle Speech see MIDI Best Pre Battle Speech timecode, 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 attempts to fetch pages from servers Best Pre Battle Speech whilst in the "on-line" state. In the "off-line" state, users can Best Wedding Locations Houston perform offline browsing, Best Pre Battle Speech where pages can be browsed using local copies of those pages that have previously Best Pre Battle Speech been downloaded whilst Best Pre Battle Speech in the "on-line" state. This can be useful Best Pre Battle Speech when the computer itself is also off-line, with connection to Internet expensive Best Pre Battle Speech or impossible. The pages are either downloaded implicitly into the web browser's own Best Pre Battle Speech cache, as a result of prior on-line browsing by the user, Best Pre Battle Speech or explicitly Best Pre Battle Speech 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 Best Pre Battle Speech by checking that Best Pre Battle Speech the local copies are up-to-date at regular Best Pre Battle Speech intervals Best Pre Battle Speech or by checking that the local copies are up-to-date whenever the browser is switched to the on-line state. One such web browser capable of being explicitly configured to download pages for offline browsing is Internet Explorer. Best Pre Battle Speech When pages Best Pre Battle Speech are added Best Pre Battle Speech to the "Favourites" list, they can be marked for being made "available for Best Pre Battle Speech offline browsing". Best Isa S Internet Best Pre Battle Speech Explorer will download to local copies both the marked page and, optionally, all of the Best Pre Battle Speech pages that it links to. In Internet Explorer version 6, the Best Pre Battle Speech level of Best Pre Battle Speech direct and indirect Best Pre Battle Speech links, Best Pre Battle Speech the maximum amount of local disc space allowed to be consumed, and the schedule on which local Best Pre Battle Speech copies are checked to see whether they are up-to-date, are configurable Best Pre Battle Speech for each
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The ideas Best Pre Battle Speech of Best Pre Battle Speech "on-line" and "off-line" have been generalized from computing and telecommunication into the field Best Pre Battle Speech 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 Best Pre Battle Speech the distinction between computer-mediated communication and face-to-face communication Best Pre Battle Speech (e.g. face time), 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 argument Best Pre Battle Speech that the distinctions in relationships are more complex than Best Pre Battle Speech a simple "on-line"/"off-line" dichotomy, he observes that some people draw no distinction between an "on-line" relationship, such as Best Pre Battle Speech indulging in cybersex, and an "off-line" relationship, such as being pen-pals. He also argues that even the telephone can be regarded Best Pre Battle Speech as an "on-line" experience in some Best Pre Battle Speech circumstances, and that the blurring of the distinctions between the uses Best Pre Battle Speech of various technologies (such as PDA and Best Pre Battle Speech mobile telephone, Best Pre Battle Speech television and Internet, Best Pre Battle Speech and Best Pre Battle Speech telephone and voice-over-IP) has made it "impossible Best Pre Battle Speech to use the Best Pre Battle Speech 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 Best Pre Battle Speech pressures to reduce the distinction between "on-line" and "off-line", with a Best Pre Battle Speech "general tendency to Best Pre Battle Speech assimilate online to offline and Best Pre Battle Speech erase the distinction", stressing, however, that this does not mean that on-line relationships are being reduced to Best Pre Battle Speech pre-existing The Best Rhubarb Pie Recipe off-line relationships. He conjectures that greater legal status may be assigned to Best Mobile Provider Au on-line relationships (pointing out that contractual relationships, such Best Pre Battle Speech as business transactions, on-line are already Best Pre Battle Speech seen as just as "real" as their off-line counterparts), although he states it to be hard to imagine courts awarding palimony to people who have had a purely Best Pre Battle Speech on-line sexual relationship. He also conjectures that Best Pre Battle Speech an "on-line"/"off-line" distinction Best Pre Battle Speech may be seen by people as "rather quaint and not quite comprehensible" within 10 years
The distinction where "on-line" is Best Pre Battle Speech seen as virtuality and "off-line" as reality is sometimes inverted, with "on-line" concepts being Best Pre Battle Speech used to define and Best Pre Battle Speech to explain "off-line" activities, Best Neutral Wall Color rather than (as per the Best Pre Battle Speech 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 a user name and a password Best Pre Battle Speech before admitting Best Pre Battle Speech a man into 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 Best Pre Battle Speech handled prior to purchase!". |
