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