One example of Doctor Search a common use of these concepts is a Mail Doctor Search User Agent that can be instructed to be in either "on-line" or "off-line" states. One such Goggle Search MUA is Microsoft Outlook. Doctor Search When it is "on-line" it will attempt to connect to mail servers (to check for new Doctor Search mail Doctor Search at regular intervals, for example), and Doctor Search when it is "off-line" it will not attempt to Doctor 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 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 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 Doctor Search connection on demand (whenever an application such as Outlook attempts to make connection to a server), but the connection may be an expensive telephone Doctor Search call from the particular location in which the computer Doctor Search currently happens to Doctor Search be (such as a hotel Doctor Search room) and the Doctor Search user may not wish Outlook to trigger making Doctor Search that call every 5 or Doctor Search 10 minutes to check for mail.
Another Doctor Search 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 Doctor Search clock of a "synchronization master" device. When the sync master commences playback, the Doctor Search "on-line" Funeral Home Search device automatically synchronizes itself to the master and commences playing from the same point in the recording. Whereas a device that Doctor Search is "off-line" uses no Doctor Search external clock reference and relies upon its own internal Doctor Search clock. When a large number of devices Doctor Search are connected to a sync master, it is often convenient, if one wants to hear just the output of one single device, to take Doctor Search it off-line, because if the device Doctor Search is played back on-line Doctor Search all synchronized devices have to locate the playback point and wait for each other Doctor Search to be in synchronization.[2] (For further related discussion, Doctor Search see MIDI timecode, word sync, and recording system synchronization.)
A third example of a common use Doctor Search of these concepts is a Improve Search Engine Rank web browser that can be instructed to be in either "on-line" or "off-line" states. The browser only attempts to fetch pages Math Search from servers Doctor Search whilst in the Doctor Search "on-line" state. In the "off-line" state, Old Movie Search users can perform offline browsing, where pages can Doctor Search be browsed using local copies Doctor Search of those pages that have previously been downloaded whilst in the Doctor Search "on-line" Doctor Search state. This can be useful when the Doctor Search computer itself is also off-line, with Doctor Search connection to Internet expensive or Doctor Search impossible. The pages Doctor Search are either downloaded implicitly into the web browser's own cache, as a result of prior on-line browsing by the user, or explicitly by the browser being configured to keep Doctor Search local copies of certain web pages, which it keeps updated when the browser is in the on-line state, either by checking that the local copies are up-to-date at regular intervals or by checking that the local Doctor Search copies Doctor Search are up-to-date whenever the Doctor Search browser is switched to the on-line state. One such web browser capable Doctor Search of being explicitly configured to Doctor Search 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 Doctor Search Explorer will download to local copies both the marked page and, optionally, all of the pages that Doctor Search it links to. In Internet Explorer version 6, Doctor Search the level of direct and Doctor Search indirect links, the maximum Doctor Search amount of local Doctor Search disc Doctor Search space allowed to be consumed, and the schedule on which local copies Doctor Search are checked to see whether they are up-to-date, are configurable for each
|
The ideas Doctor Search 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" has become a subject of study in the field of sociology.[7]
The distinction between "on-line" and "off-line" is Doctor Search conventionally seen as the Doctor Search distinction between computer-mediated communication and face-to-face communication (e.g. face time), respectively. "On-line" is Doctor Search virtuality, and "off-line" is reality (e.g. real life or meatspace). Slater states that this distinction Doctor Search is "obviously far Doctor Search too simple". To support his argument that the distinctions in relationships Doctor Search are more complex Doctor Search than a simple "on-line"/"off-line" dichotomy, he Doctor Search observes that some people draw no distinction between an "on-line" relationship, such as indulging in cybersex, and Doctor Search an Doctor Search "off-line" relationship, such as being pen-pals. He also argues that even Search Free Credit Report the telephone can be regarded as Doctor Search an Doctor Search "on-line" experience in some circumstances, and that the blurring of the distinctions between the uses of various technologies (such Doctor Search as PDA and mobile Doctor Search telephone, Doctor Search 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 Doctor Search "general tendency to assimilate online to offline and erase the distinction", stressing, however, that this does not mean that Doctor Search on-line relationships Doctor Search are being reduced to pre-existing off-line Doctor Search relationships. He conjectures that greater legal status may be assigned to Doctor Search on-line relationships (pointing out that contractual relationships, such Vin Number Search 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 Doctor Search 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 Doctor Search where "on-line" is seen as virtuality and "off-line" as Doctor Search 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 the desktop metaphor Doctor Search with its desktops, Search Ip Address trash cans, folders, and so Doctor Search forth) the other way around. Several cartoons by The Doctor Search New Doctor Search Yorker have satirized this. One includes Saint Peter Doctor Search asking for a user name and a password before admitting a man into Heaven. Another illustrates "the off-line Doctor Search store" where "All items are actual Doctor Search size!", where Doctor Search shoppers may "Take it home as soon as you pay for it!", and where "Merchandise may Doctor Search be handled prior to purchase!". |