One Math Search example of a common use of these concepts Math Search is a Mail User Agent that can be instructed to be in either "on-line" or "off-line" states. One such MUA Math Search is Microsoft Outlook. When it is "on-line" it will attempt to connect to mail servers (to check for new mail Math Search at regular intervals, for example), and when it is "off-line" it will not attempt to make any such connections. Math Search The "on-line" or "off-line" state Math Search of the MUA does not necessarily reflect the Math Search connection status between the computer on Math Search which Math Search it is running and Internet. The user may have the Math Search 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 Math Search configured Math Search to Math Search employ a dial-up connection on demand (whenever an application such as Outlook attempts to make connection to Math Search a server), but the Math Search connection Math Search 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 Math Search may not Math Search wish Outlook to trigger making that Math Search call every 5 Goggle Search or 10 minutes to check for mail.
Another Math Search example of the use of these concepts Math Search is in the world of digital Math Search 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 Math Search of a "synchronization master" device. When the sync master commences playback, the "on-line" Math Search 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 Math Search clock Math Search reference and relies upon its own internal clock. When a large Math Search number Math Search of devices are connected to a Math Search sync master, Math Search it is often convenient, if one wants Math Search to hear just Math Search 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 playback point and wait for each other to be in synchronization.[2] (For Math Search further related discussion, see MIDI timecode, word sync, and recording system synchronization.)
A third example of a common use of these concepts is a Math Search web Math Search browser that can be instructed Math Search to be in either "on-line" or "off-line" states. The browser only attempts to fetch pages from servers whilst in the "on-line" state. In the "off-line" Math Search state, users can perform offline browsing, where Math Search pages can be browsed using Math Search local copies Math Search of Funeral Home Search those pages that Math Search have previously been downloaded whilst in the Math Search "on-line" state. This Math Search can Math Search be useful Math Search when the computer itself is also off-line, with connection to Internet expensive or impossible. The pages are either downloaded implicitly into Math Search the web browser's own cache, Math Search as a result Math Search of prior on-line 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 the on-line state, either by checking that the local copies are up-to-date at regular intervals or by checking that the local Math Search copies are up-to-date whenever the browser Math Search is switched to the on-line state. One such web browser capable of being explicitly configured to download pages for offline browsing Math Search is Internet Explorer. When pages Math Search are added to the "Favourites" list, they can Math Search 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 that it links to. In Internet Explorer version 6, Math Search the level of direct and indirect Math Search links, the maximum amount of local disc space Math Search allowed to be Math Search consumed, and the schedule on which local copies are checked to see whether they are Math Search 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" has become a subject of study in the field of sociology.[7]
The distinction between "on-line" Math Search and "off-line" is conventionally seen as Math Search the distinction between computer-mediated communication and face-to-face communication (e.g. face time), respectively. "On-line" is virtuality, and "off-line" is reality (e.g. real life or meatspace). Improve Search Engine Rank Slater states that Math Search 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 people draw no distinction between an "on-line" Math Search relationship, Math Search such as indulging in cybersex, and an "off-line" relationship, such as being pen-pals. He Math Search also argues that even Math Search the telephone can be regarded as an "on-line" experience Math Search in some circumstances, Math Search and that the blurring of the distinctions between the uses of various technologies (such as PDA and mobile telephone, television and Internet, and Math Search telephone and voice-over-IP) has made it "impossible to use the term Math Search 'on-line' meaningfully in the sense that was employed by the first Math Search generation of Internet research".[7]
Slater asserts that there are legal and regulatory pressures to reduce the distinction between Math Search "on-line" and "off-line", 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 Math Search to on-line relationships (pointing out Math Search that contractual relationships, such as business transactions, on-line are already seen as Math Search just as "real" as their off-line counterparts), although he states it to Math Search 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 Math Search by people as "rather quaint and not quite comprehensible" within Math Search 10 years
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The distinction where "on-line" Math Search is seen as virtuality and "off-line" as reality is sometimes inverted, Math Search with "on-line" concepts being used to define Math Search and to explain "off-line" activities, rather than (as per the conventions of the desktop Math Search 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 Math Search a user name and a password before Math Search admitting 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 Math Search where "Merchandise may be handled prior Math Search to purchase!". |
