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 Search Pages attempt to connect to mail servers (to check for new mail at regular intervals, for example), and when it is "off-line" it will not attempt to make Search Pages any such connections. The "on-line" or Search Pages "off-line" state of the MUA does not necessarily reflect Search Pages 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 Search Pages Outlook to be off-line, so that it makes no attempt to send or to receive messages. Or the computer may Search Pages be configured to employ a dial-up connection Search Pages on demand (whenever an application such as Outlook attempts to make connection Search Pages to a server), but Search Pages the connection may be an expensive telephone call from Search Pages the particular location in which the computer currently happens to Search Pages be (such as a hotel room) and the user may not Search Pages 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 Search Pages digital audio technology. Search Pages A tape recorder, digital editor, Search Pages or other device that is "on-line" is one whose clock Search Pages is under the control of the clock of Search Pages 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 a device that is "off-line" Search Pages uses no external clock reference and relies upon its own internal clock. When a large number of devices are Search Pages connected to a sync master, it is Search Pages often convenient, if one Search Pages wants to hear just the output of one Search Pages single device, to take it off-line, Search Pages because if the device is played back on-line Search Pages all synchronized devices have to Search Pages locate the playback point and wait for each other to be in synchronization.[2] (For further related Search Pages discussion, see MIDI timecode, word sync, and recording system synchronization.)
A third example of a Search Pages common use Search Pages of these concepts is Search Pages a web browser that can be instructed to be in either "on-line" or "off-line" Search Pages states. The browser only attempts to fetch pages from servers whilst in the "on-line" state. In Search Pages the "off-line" state, users Search Pages can perform offline browsing, where pages can be browsed using local copies Search Pages of those pages that have previously been downloaded whilst in the "on-line" state. This can be useful Search Pages when the computer itself is also off-line, with connection to Internet expensive or impossible. The Search Pages pages are either downloaded implicitly into the web browser's own cache, as a Search Pages result Search Pages of prior on-line browsing by the user, or explicitly by Search Pages the browser being configured Search Pages to keep Search Pages local copies of certain Search Pages web pages, which it keeps updated when the browser is in the on-line state, either by checking that Search Pages Search Tracking the local copies Search Pages are up-to-date at regular intervals or by checking Search Pages that the local copies are up-to-date whenever the browser Search Pages is switched to the on-line state. One such web browser capable of being explicitly configured to download pages for offline browsing is Internet Explorer. When pages are added to the "Favourites" list, Search Pages they can be marked for being made Search Pages "available for offline browsing". Internet Explorer will download to local copies both the Search Pages marked page and, optionally, all of Search Pages the pages that it links to. In Internet Explorer version 6, the Search Pages level Search Pages of direct and indirect links, the maximum amount of local disc space allowed People Search By Address to be consumed, and the schedule on Search Pages which local copies are checked to Word Search Generator see whether they are up-to-date, are configurable for each
|
The ideas Search Pages of "on-line" and "off-line" have been generalized from computing and telecommunication into the field of Search Pages human interpersonal relationships. The distinction Search Pages between what is considered "on-line" and what is considered "off-line" has become a subject of Search Pages study in the field of sociology.[7]
The distinction between "on-line" and "off-line" is conventionally seen Search Pages as the Search Pages 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". 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 Search Pages an "on-line" relationship, such as Search Pages indulging in cybersex, and an "off-line" Search Pages relationship, such as being pen-pals. He also argues that even the telephone can be regarded Search Pages as an "on-line" experience in some circumstances, Search Pages and that the Search Pages blurring of Search Pages the distinctions between the uses of various technologies (such as PDA and mobile telephone, television and Internet, and telephone and Search Pages voice-over-IP) has made it "impossible Search Pages to use the term 'on-line' meaningfully in the sense that was employed by the first generation Search Pages of Internet research".[7]
Slater asserts that there are legal and regulatory pressures to reduce the distinction Search Pages between Search Pages "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 Movie Quote Search conjectures that greater Search Pages legal status may be assigned to on-line relationships (pointing out that contractual relationships, such as business Search Pages 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 palimony to people Search Pages who have had a purely on-line sexual relationship. He also Search Pages conjectures that an "on-line"/"off-line" distinction may be Search Pages seen by people as Search Pages "rather quaint and not quite Search Pages comprehensible" within Search Pages 10 years
The distinction where "on-line" is seen as virtuality Search Pages and "off-line" as reality is sometimes inverted, with "on-line" concepts being used to define and to explain Search Pages "off-line" activities, rather Search Pages than (as per Search Pages the conventions of the desktop metaphor with its desktops, trash cans, folders, and so forth) the other way around. Several cartoons by The New Yorker Search Pages have Executive Search Firms satirized this. One includes Saint Peter asking for a user name and a password before admitting a man into Heaven. Another illustrates "the Search Pages off-line store" where "All items are actual size!", where shoppers may "Take it home as soon as Search Pages you pay for it!", and where "Merchandise may be handled prior to purchase!". |
