One Song Copyright Search example of a common use of these concepts is a Mail User Agent that Song Copyright Search 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 servers (to check for new mail at regular intervals, for example), and when it is "off-line" it will not attempt to Song Copyright Search make 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 Song Copyright Search it is running and Internet. The user may have the computer itself on-line, connected to Internet via a cable modem or an ADSL connection, but may wish for Outlook to be Song Copyright Search off-line, so that it makes no Song Copyright Search attempt Song Copyright Search to send or to receive Song Copyright Search messages. Or the computer may be configured to employ a Song Copyright Search dial-up connection on demand Song Copyright Search (whenever an application such as Outlook attempts to make connection to a server), but the Song Copyright Search connection may be an expensive telephone call from the particular location in which Song Copyright Search the computer currently Song Copyright Search happens to Song Copyright Search be (such as a hotel room) and the user may Song Copyright Search Oilfield Job Search not Song Copyright Search wish Song Copyright Search Outlook Song Copyright Search to trigger making that call every 5 or 10 minutes Song Copyright Search to check for Song Copyright Search mail.
Another example of the use of these concepts is in the world of digital audio technology. A tape recorder, digital editor, or other device that is "on-line" is one whose clock is under the control of the clock of a Song Copyright Search "synchronization master" device. When the sync master commences playback, the "on-line" device automatically synchronizes itself to the master and Song Copyright Search commences playing from the same point in Song Copyright Search the recording. Whereas a device that is "off-line" uses no external clock Song Copyright Search reference Song Copyright Search and relies upon its Song Copyright Search own internal clock. When a large Song Copyright Search number of devices are connected Song Copyright Search to a sync master, Song Copyright Search 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 played back on-line all synchronized devices have to locate the Song Copyright Search playback point and wait for each other to be in synchronization.[2] (For further related discussion, see MIDI timecode, word Song Copyright Search sync, and recording system synchronization.)
A third example of a common use Song Copyright Search of Song Copyright Search these concepts is Song Copyright Search a web browser that can be instructed to be in either "on-line" or "off-line" states. The Song Copyright Search browser only attempts to Song Copyright Search fetch pages from servers whilst in the "on-line" state. In the "off-line" state, users can perform offline browsing, where Song Copyright Search pages can Song Copyright Search be browsed Song Copyright Search using Song Copyright Search local copies of Song Copyright Search those pages that have Song Copyright Search previously been Song Copyright Search 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 pages are either downloaded implicitly into the web browser's Song Copyright Search own cache, as a result of prior on-line browsing by the user, Song Copyright Search or explicitly by the browser being configured to keep local copies of certain web pages, which it keeps updated Song Copyright Search when the browser is in the on-line state, Song Copyright Search 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 Song Copyright Search of being explicitly configured to download pages for offline browsing is Internet Explorer. When pages are Song Copyright Search added to the "Favourites" list, they can be marked for being made "available for offline browsing". Internet Explorer will download to local copies Song Copyright Search both the marked page Song Copyright Search and, optionally, all of the pages that it links to. In Internet Explorer version 6, the level Song Copyright Search of direct and indirect links, the Song Copyright Search maximum amount of local disc space allowed to be consumed, and the schedule on which local copies are Song Copyright Search 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 Song Copyright Search and telecommunication into the field of human interpersonal relationships. The distinction between what is considered "on-line" Song Copyright Search 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 Song Copyright Search between computer-mediated communication and face-to-face Song Copyright Search communication (e.g. face time), Song Copyright Search respectively. "On-line" is virtuality, and "off-line" is reality (e.g. real life or meatspace). Slater states that this distinction is "obviously Song Copyright Search 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 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 even the telephone can be regarded as an "on-line" experience in Artist Search Engines some circumstances, and that the blurring of the distinctions between the uses of Song Copyright Search various technologies (such as PDA and mobile telephone, television Song Copyright Search 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 Song Copyright Search there are legal and regulatory Song Copyright Search pressures to reduce Song Copyright Search the distinction between "on-line" and Song Copyright Search "off-line", with Song Copyright Search a "general tendency to assimilate online to offline and erase the distinction", stressing, however, Song Copyright Search that this does not mean that on-line relationships are being reduced to pre-existing off-line Song Copyright Search relationships. He conjectures Song Copyright Search that greater legal status Song Copyright Search may be Song Copyright Search assigned to 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), although he states it to be hard to imagine courts awarding palimony to people who Song Copyright Search have had a purely on-line sexual relationship. He also conjectures that an "on-line"/"off-line" distinction Song Copyright Search may be seen by people as "rather quaint and not Song Copyright Search quite Song Copyright Search comprehensible" within 10 years
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The Song Copyright Search distinction where "on-line" is seen as virtuality and "off-line" Song Copyright Search as reality is sometimes Song Copyright Search inverted, with "on-line" Song Copyright Search concepts being used to Song Copyright Search define and to explain "off-line" activities, rather than (as per the conventions of the Song Copyright Search desktop Song Copyright Search Www Inmate Search metaphor with its desktops, trash cans, folders, and so forth) the other Song Copyright Search way Search Chat Rooms around. Several cartoons by The New Yorker have satirized this. One includes Saint Peter asking for a user name and a password before admitting a man into Heaven. Another illustrates "the Song Copyright Search 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 handled prior to purchase!". |
