One example of a common use of these concepts is a Mail User Agent that can Catpile Web Search be instructed to be in either "on-line" or "off-line" Catpile Web Search states. One such MUA Catpile Web Search is Microsoft Outlook. When it is "on-line" it will attempt to connect to mail Catpile Web Search servers (to check for new mail at regular Catpile Web Search intervals, for Catpile Web Search example), and when it Catpile Web Search is Catpile Web 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 Catpile Web Search 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 Catpile Web Search ADSL connection, but may wish for Outlook to be off-line, so that it makes no attempt to send or to receive Catpile Web Search messages. Or the computer may be configured to employ a dial-up connection on demand (whenever an application such as Outlook attempts to make connection to a server), Catpile Web Search but Catpile Web Search the connection may Catpile Web Search be an expensive telephone call from the particular location in which the computer Catpile Web Search currently happens to be Catpile Web Search (such as a hotel room) and the user may not wish Outlook to trigger making that call every Catpile Web Search 5 Catpile Web Search 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, Catpile Web Search digital editor, or other device that is Catpile Web Search "on-line" is one Catpile Web Search whose clock is under the control of Catpile Web Search the clock of a "synchronization master" device. Catpile Web Search When the sync master commences playback, the Catpile Web Search "on-line" device automatically synchronizes itself Catpile Web Search to the master and commences playing from the same point Catpile Web Search in the recording. Whereas a device that Catpile Web Search is "off-line" uses no Catpile Web Search external clock reference and relies upon its own internal clock. When a large number of devices are connected to Catpile Web Search a sync master, it is often convenient, if one wants to hear just 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 Catpile Web Search synchronization.[2] (For further related discussion, see MIDI 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 Catpile Web Search be in either "on-line" or "off-line" states. The browser only attempts to fetch pages from servers whilst in the Catpile Web Search "on-line" state. In the "off-line" state, users can perform offline browsing, where pages Catpile Web Search can be browsed using local copies of those pages that have previously been downloaded whilst Catpile Web Search in the "on-line" Catpile Web Search state. This can be useful when the computer itself is also off-line, with connection to Internet expensive Catpile Web Search or impossible. Catpile Web Search 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 Catpile Web Search by the Catpile Web Search browser being configured to keep Catpile Web 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 Catpile Web Search regular intervals or Catpile Web Search by checking that the local copies are up-to-date whenever the browser Catpile Web Search is switched to the on-line state. One such Catpile Web Search web browser capable of being explicitly configured to download pages for Catpile Web Search offline Catpile Web Search browsing is Internet Explorer. When pages are added to the "Favourites" list, they can be marked for being made "available for offline browsing". Internet Explorer will download to local Catpile Web Search copies Catpile Web Search both the marked page and, optionally, all of the pages that it links to. In Internet Catpile Web Search Explorer version 6, the level of direct and indirect links, Catpile Web Search the maximum amount of local disc space allowed to be consumed, and the schedule on which local copies are checked to see whether Catpile Web Search they are 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" and "off-line" is conventionally seen as the distinction Catpile Web Search between computer-mediated communication and face-to-face communication (e.g. face time), respectively. "On-line" is virtuality, and "off-line" is Catpile Web Search reality (e.g. real life or meatspace). Slater Catpile Web Search states that this distinction is "obviously far too simple". To support his argument Catpile Web Search that Catpile Web Search 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" relationship, Catpile Web Search such as indulging in cybersex, and an "off-line" relationship, Catpile Web Search such as being pen-pals. He also argues that even the telephone can be regarded as an "on-line" experience in some Catpile Web Search circumstances, and that the Catpile Web Search blurring of the distinctions between the uses of various technologies (such as PDA and Catpile Web Search mobile telephone, television and Internet, and telephone and voice-over-IP) has made it Catpile Web Search "impossible to use the term Catpile Web Search '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 Catpile Web Search reduce the distinction between "on-line" and "off-line", with a "general tendency to assimilate Catpile Web Search online Catpile Web Search to offline and erase the distinction", stressing, however, that this does not mean that Catpile Web Search on-line relationships are Catpile Web Search being reduced to pre-existing Catpile Web Search off-line relationships. He conjectures that greater legal status may be assigned to on-line relationships (pointing out that contractual relationships, such as Catpile Web Search business transactions, on-line Catpile Web Search are already seen Catpile Web Search as just as "real" as their off-line counterparts), although he states it to be hard to imagine Catpile Web Search courts awarding palimony to people who Catpile Web Search 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
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The distinction where "on-line" is seen as virtuality and Catpile Web Search "off-line" Catpile Web Search as reality is sometimes inverted, with Catpile Web Search "on-line" concepts being used to define and to explain Catpile Web Search "off-line" activities, rather than (as per the conventions of the desktop metaphor with its desktops, trash cans, folders, and so forth) the other Catpile Web Search way around. Several cartoons Catpile Web Search by The New Yorker have satirized this. One includes Saint Peter asking for Catpile Web Search a user name and a password Catpile Web Search before admitting a man into Heaven. Another illustrates "the off-line store" where "All items are actual size!", Catpile Web Search where shoppers may "Take it home as soon as you pay for it!", and where "Merchandise Catpile Web Search may be Catpile Web Search handled prior to purchase!". |
