One example of a common Yahoo People Search use of these concepts is a Mail User Agent that Search Words can be instructed to be in either "on-line" or "off-line" states. One such MUA Search Words 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 Search Words example), and when it is "off-line" Search Free Arrest Warrants it will not attempt to make any such connections. The Person Search "on-line" or "off-line" state of the MUA does not necessarily reflect the Image Search connection status between the computer on which it is running and Search Words Internet. The user may have the computer itself Search Words on-line, connected to Internet via Search Words a cable modem Search Words or an ADSL connection, but may Search Words wish for Search Words Outlook to be off-line, so that it makes no attempt Search Words to send or Search Words to receive messages. Or Music Lyrics Search the computer may be configured to employ a Search Words dial-up connection on demand (whenever an application such as Outlook attempts to make connection to a server), but the connection may be Search Words an expensive telephone Search Words call from the particular location in which the computer currently happens to be (such as Address Search a Search Words hotel room) and Search Words the user may not wish Search Words Outlook to trigger making that call every Search Words 5 or 10 minutes to check for mail.
Another example Search Words of the use of these concepts is in the world of Search Words digital audio technology. A tape recorder, digital editor, or other device that is Search Words "on-line" is one whose clock is under the control of the clock of a "synchronization Search Words master" device. Search Words When Search Words the sync master commences playback, the "on-line" device automatically Search Words synchronizes itself to the master and commences Search Words playing from the same point Meta Search Engines in the recording. Whereas a device that is "off-line" uses no external clock reference and relies upon its own internal Area Code Search clock. When a large number of devices Search Words are connected to a sync master, it is often convenient, if one wants to hear just the Search Words output of one single device, to take it off-line, because if the device is played back on-line Search Words all synchronized devices have to locate the playback point and wait for Search Words each other to be in synchronization.[2] (For further related discussion, Search Words see Search Words MIDI timecode, word sync, and recording system synchronization.)
|
A third example of a common use of these concepts is a web browser that Search Words can be instructed to be in either "on-line" Search Words or "off-line" states. The browser only attempts to fetch pages from Search Words servers whilst in the "on-line" Search Words state. In the "off-line" state, Search Words users can perform offline browsing, where pages can 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 Search Words also off-line, with connection to Internet expensive or impossible. The pages are either downloaded implicitly into the web browser's own cache, Search Words as Search Words Book Search a result of prior on-line browsing by the user, or explicitly by Search Words the browser being configured to keep local copies of Search Words certain web pages, which it keeps updated when the browser is in the on-line state, Search Words either by checking that the local copies are up-to-date at regular Search Words intervals or by checking that the local copies are up-to-date whenever the browser is switched to Search Words the on-line state. One such web browser capable of being Search Words explicitly configured to download pages for offline browsing is Internet Explorer. When pages are added to the "Favourites" list, they can be marked for being made "available for offline browsing". Internet Explorer will download to local copies both the marked page and, optionally, all of the pages Search Words that it links to. In Internet Explorer version 6, the level of direct and indirect links, the maximum amount of local disc space allowed to be consumed, and Search Words the schedule on Search Words which local copies are checked to see whether they are up-to-date, are configurable for each
The ideas of "on-line" and "off-line" have been generalized Search Words from computing and telecommunication into the field of human interpersonal relationships. The distinction between what is considered "on-line" Search Words and what is considered "off-line" has become a Search Words subject of study in the field of sociology.[7]
The Search Words distinction between "on-line" and "off-line" is conventionally seen as the distinction Search Words between computer-mediated communication Search Words and Word Search face-to-face communication (e.g. face time), respectively. Search Words "On-line" is virtuality, and Search Words "off-line" is reality (e.g. real Search Words life or meatspace). Slater states that Search Words this 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 that some Search Words people draw Search Words no distinction between an "on-line" relationship, such as indulging in Search Words cybersex, and an "off-line" relationship, such as Search Words being pen-pals. He also argues that even Search Engins the Search Words telephone can be regarded as an Search Words "on-line" Search Words experience in some circumstances, and that Search Words the Search Engine Optimisation Ireland blurring of the distinctions between the uses Search Words of various technologies (such as PDA and mobile Search Words 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 Search Words by Search Words the first generation of Internet research".[7]
|
Slater asserts Search Words that Search Words there are legal and regulatory Search Words pressures to reduce the distinction between "on-line" and "off-line", Search Words 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 may be assigned to on-line relationships (pointing out Search Words that contractual relationships, such as business transactions, on-line are already seen as just as "real" as their off-line counterparts), although he states Search Words it to be hard to imagine courts awarding palimony to people who have had a purely on-line sexual relationship. He also conjectures 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" is seen as virtuality and "off-line" as Search Words reality is sometimes inverted, with "on-line" concepts being used Search Words to define and to explain "off-line" activities, rather than (as per the conventions of the desktop metaphor with its desktops, trash cans, folders, and so forth) the other Search Words way around. Several cartoons Search Words by The New Yorker have satirized this. One includes Saint Peter asking for Search Words a user name and a password before admitting a man into Heaven. Another illustrates "the Search Words off-line store" where Search Words "All items are actual size!", where shoppers may "Take it home as soon as you pay for it!", and where "Merchandise may Search Words be handled prior to purchase!". |
