One example Filefactory Search of a common use of these concepts is a Mail User Agent that can be instructed to be in either "on-line" or Filefactory Search "off-line" states. One such MUA is Microsoft Outlook. When it is Filefactory Search "on-line" it will attempt Filefactory Search to connect to mail servers (to check for new mail Filefactory Search at regular intervals, for example), and when it is "off-line" it will not attempt Filefactory Search to make any Filefactory Search such connections. The "on-line" or "off-line" Filefactory Search state of the MUA does Filefactory Search not necessarily Filefactory Search reflect the connection status between the computer on which it is running and Filefactory Search Internet. The user may have the computer itself on-line, connected to Internet via a cable modem or an ADSL Filefactory Search connection, but may wish for Outlook to Filefactory Search be off-line, so Search Rngels that it makes no attempt to Filefactory Search send or to receive messages. Or the computer may be configured to employ a dial-up connection on demand Filefactory Search (whenever an application such as Outlook attempts to make Filefactory Search connection to a server), but the connection may be an Filefactory Search expensive telephone call from the particular location in which the computer currently happens to Filefactory Search be (such as a hotel room) and the user may not wish Filefactory Search Outlook to trigger Filefactory Search making that call every 5 or 10 minutes to check for mail.
Another example Filefactory Search of the use Filefactory Search of these concepts Filefactory Search is in the world of Filefactory Search digital audio technology. A tape recorder, Filefactory Search digital editor, or other device that is "on-line" is one whose clock is under the control of the clock of a "synchronization master" device. When the sync master commences playback, the "on-line" Filefactory Search device automatically synchronizes itself to the master and commences playing from the same point in the recording. Whereas a device that Filefactory Search is Filefactory Search "off-line" uses no external clock Filefactory Search reference and relies upon its own internal clock. When a large number of devices are connected to a sync master, it is often convenient, if one wants to hear just the output of Arabic Search one single device, to take it off-line, because if the device is played back Filefactory Search on-line all synchronized devices have to locate the playback point and wait for each other to be in Filefactory Search synchronization.[2] Filefactory Search (For further related discussion, see MIDI timecode, word sync, and recording system synchronization.)
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A third example of a common use of these concepts is a web browser that can be instructed to be in either "on-line" or "off-line" states. Filefactory Search The browser only attempts to fetch pages from servers whilst in the "on-line" state. In the "off-line" state, users can perform offline browsing, where pages can Filefactory Search be browsed using local copies of those pages Filefactory Search that have previously been downloaded whilst in the "on-line" state. This can be useful when the Filefactory Search computer itself is also off-line, with connection to Internet expensive or impossible. The pages are either downloaded implicitly Filefactory Search into the web browser's own cache, as a result of prior on-line Xxx Search Ingines browsing by the user, or explicitly by the browser being configured Filefactory Search to keep local copies Filefactory Search of certain web pages, which it Filefactory Search Search For Automobiles keeps updated when the browser is in the on-line state, either by Filefactory Search checking that Filefactory Search the local copies are up-to-date at regular intervals or by checking that the local copies Filefactory Search are up-to-date whenever the browser is switched to the on-line Email And Fax Contacts Search state. One such web browser Filefactory Search capable of being explicitly configured to download pages for Filefactory Search offline browsing is Internet Filefactory Search Explorer. When Filefactory Search pages are added to the "Favourites" list, they can be marked for being made "available for offline browsing". Filefactory Search Internet Explorer will download to Filefactory Search local copies both the marked page and, Filefactory Search optionally, Filefactory Search all of the pages that Filefactory Search 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 the schedule on which local copies are checked to see Filefactory Search whether they are up-to-date, are configurable for each
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The ideas of "on-line" and Filefactory Search "off-line" have been generalized from computing and telecommunication into the field of human interpersonal Filefactory Search relationships. Filefactory Search The distinction between what is considered "on-line" and Filefactory Search what is considered Filefactory Search "off-line" has become a Filefactory Search subject of study in the field Filefactory Search of sociology.[7]
The distinction between "on-line" and "off-line" is conventionally seen as 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). Slater states that this distinction is "obviously far too simple". Filefactory Search To support his argument that the distinctions in relationships Filefactory Search are more complex than a simple "on-line"/"off-line" dichotomy, he observes that some people draw no distinction Filefactory Search between an "on-line" relationship, such as indulging in cybersex, Safe Search Engines and an Filefactory Search "off-line" relationship, such as being Filefactory Search pen-pals. He also argues that even the telephone can be regarded as an Filefactory Search "on-line" experience in Filefactory Search some circumstances, and that the blurring of the Filefactory Search distinctions between the uses of various My Job Search technologies (such as PDA and mobile 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 by the first generation of Internet research".[7]
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Slater Filefactory Search asserts that there are legal and regulatory pressures to reduce the distinction between "on-line" and "off-line", with a "general tendency to assimilate online to offline and erase the Filefactory Search distinction", stressing, however, Filefactory Search that this does not mean that on-line relationships Filefactory Search are being reduced to pre-existing off-line relationships. He conjectures that greater legal Filefactory Search status may be assigned to on-line relationships (pointing out Filefactory Search that contractual relationships, such as business transactions, on-line are already seen as just as Filefactory Search "real" Filefactory Search as Filefactory Search their off-line counterparts), although he states 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 Filefactory Search 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 reality Filefactory Search 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 with its desktops, trash cans, folders, and so forth) the other way around. Several Filefactory Search cartoons by The New Yorker have satirized this. Filefactory Search One Filefactory Search includes Saint Peter asking for a user name and a password Filefactory Search before admitting a man into Heaven. Another Filefactory Search illustrates "the Filefactory 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!". |
