One example of a common use of these concepts is a Mail User Agent that 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 Vh1 Search intervals, Vh1 Search for example), and when it is Vh1 Search "off-line" it will not attempt to make any such connections. The "on-line" or "off-line" state of the MUA does not necessarily reflect the connection status between the Vh1 Search computer on which it is running and Internet. The user may have the computer itself Vh1 Search on-line, connected to Internet via a cable modem or Vh1 Search 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 Vh1 Search the computer may be configured to employ a dial-up connection on demand (whenever an application such as Outlook attempts to Vh1 Search make connection to a server), but Vh1 Search the connection may be an expensive Vh1 Search telephone call from the particular location in which the computer currently happens to be (such as a hotel room) and the user may not wish Outlook to trigger making that call every 5 or 10 minutes to check for mail.
Another example of the use of these concepts is in the world of digital audio technology. A tape recorder, Search Lasvegashomeequityloan digital editor, or other device that is "on-line" is one whose clock is under the Vh1 Search control of the clock of a "synchronization master" device. When the sync master commences playback, the "on-line" device automatically synchronizes itself to the master and commences playing from the same point in the recording. Whereas Vh1 Search a device that is "off-line" uses no external Jack Lane Power Juicer Search clock Vh1 Search reference and relies upon its own internal clock. When a large Vh1 Search number of devices are connected to a sync master, it is often Vh1 Search convenient, if one wants to hear just the output of one single device, to Vh1 Search take it off-line, because if the device is played back on-line all synchronized Vh1 Search devices have to Vh1 Search locate the playback point and wait for each other Vh1 Search to be in synchronization.[2] (For further related discussion, Vh1 Search see MIDI Vh1 Search timecode, word sync, and recording system synchronization.)
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. The browser only attempts Vh1 Search to fetch Vh1 Search pages from servers whilst in the Vh1 Search "on-line" state. In the "off-line" state, users can perform offline browsing, where pages can be Vh1 Search browsed using local copies Vh1 Search of those pages that have previously been downloaded whilst in the "on-line" state. This can be useful Vh1 Search when the computer itself Vh1 Search is Vh1 Search also off-line, with connection to Internet expensive or impossible. The pages are either downloaded implicitly into the web browser's own cache, as a result of prior on-line browsing by the user, or explicitly Vh1 Search by the browser being configured to Vh1 Search keep local copies Vh1 Search of certain web pages, which it keeps updated when the browser is Vh1 Search in Vh1 Search the on-line state, either by checking that Vh1 Search the local copies Vh1 Search are Vh1 Search up-to-date at regular intervals or by checking that the local copies are Vh1 Search up-to-date whenever the browser is switched to the on-line state. One such web browser Vh1 Search capable of Vh1 Search being Vh1 Search explicitly configured Vh1 Search to download pages for offline browsing is Internet Explorer. When pages are added Vh1 Search to the Vh1 Search "Favourites" list, they can be marked for being made Vh1 Search "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. Vh1 Search In Internet Explorer version 6, the level Vh1 Search 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 whether they are up-to-date, are configurable for each
The ideas Vh1 Search of "on-line" and "off-line" have been generalized from computing Vh1 Search and telecommunication Vh1 Search into the field of human interpersonal relationships. The distinction between what is considered "on-line" and what Vh1 Search is considered Vh1 Search "off-line" has become Vh1 Search a subject of study in the field of Vh1 Search sociology.[7]
The distinction between "on-line" and "off-line" is conventionally Vh1 Search seen as the distinction between computer-mediated communication and face-to-face Vh1 Search communication Vh1 Search (e.g. face time), respectively. "On-line" is virtuality, and "off-line" is reality (e.g. real life or meatspace). Slater states Online Education Search Advice College that this distinction is "obviously far too simple". To support his argument that the Vh1 Search distinctions in relationships are Vh1 Search more complex than a simple "on-line"/"off-line" dichotomy, he observes that some Vh1 Search people draw no distinction between an "on-line" relationship, such as indulging in cybersex, Vh1 Search and an "off-line" Engine Optimization Pricing Search relationship, such as Vh1 Search being pen-pals. He also argues that even the telephone can be regarded as an "on-line" experience in some circumstances, and that the blurring of the distinctions between the uses of various technologies (such as PDA and mobile telephone, television and Internet, and Vh1 Search telephone and voice-over-IP) has made it "impossible to use the term 'on-line' meaningfully Vh1 Search in the sense that Vh1 Search was employed Microsoft Enterprise Search by the first generation of Internet research".[7]
Slater Vh1 Search asserts Vh1 Search that there are legal and regulatory pressures to reduce the distinction between "on-line" and "off-line", with a "general tendency to assimilate Vh1 Search online to offline and erase the distinction", Vh1 Search 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 that contractual relationships, such as Vh1 Search business transactions, on-line are already seen as Vh1 Search just as "real" Vh1 Search as their off-line counterparts), although he states it to be hard to imagine courts awarding palimony to people Vh1 Search who have had a purely Vh1 Search on-line sexual relationship. He Vh1 Search also conjectures that an "on-line"/"off-line" distinction Vh1 Search may be seen by people as "rather quaint and not quite comprehensible" Vh1 Search within 10 years
The distinction where "on-line" is seen as virtuality and "off-line" as reality is Vh1 Search sometimes inverted, with "on-line" concepts being used to define and to explain "off-line" activities, rather than (as per the conventions Vh1 Search of the desktop metaphor with its desktops, trash cans, folders, Vh1 Search and so forth) the other way Vh1 Search around. Several cartoons by The New Yorker have Search Firms satirized this. One includes Saint Peter asking for a user name and a password before admitting a man into Heaven. Another Vh1 Search illustrates "the off-line store" where Vh1 Search "All items are Vh1 Search actual size!", where shoppers may "Take it home as soon Vh1 Search as you pay for it!", and where "Merchandise may be handled prior to purchase!". |
