One example of a common use Clear History In Search of these Clear History In Search 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 Clear History In Search (to check for new mail at regular intervals, for example), Clear History In Search and when it is "off-line" it will not Clear History In Search attempt to make any such Clear History In Search connections. The "on-line" or "off-line" state of the MUA does not necessarily reflect 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 Clear History In Search ADSL connection, Clear History In Search 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 configured to employ a dial-up connection on demand (whenever an application such as Outlook attempts to make Clear History In Search connection to a server), but the connection may be an expensive telephone Clear History In Search call from the particular location Clear History In Search in which the computer currently happens to be Clear History In Search (such as a hotel room) and the user may Clear History In Search not Clear History In Search wish Outlook to trigger making that call every 5 or 10 minutes to Clear History In Search check for mail.
Another example of the use of these concepts is in the world of digital audio technology. A tape recorder, digital Clear History In Search editor, or other device that is "on-line" is one whose clock is under the control Clear History In Search of Clear History In Search the clock of a "synchronization master" Clear History In Search device. Clear History In Search When the sync master commences Clear History In Search playback, the "on-line" device automatically synchronizes itself to Clear History In Search the master Clear History In Search and commences playing from the same point in the recording. Whereas a device that is "off-line" uses no external clock reference and relies upon its own internal Clear History In Search 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 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 Clear History In Search to be in synchronization.[2] (For further related discussion, see MIDI timecode, word sync, and recording system synchronization.)
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A third example of a Clear History In Search common use of these Clear History In Search concepts is a web browser that can be instructed to be in either "on-line" or "off-line" states. The browser only attempts to fetch Clear History In Search pages from servers whilst in Clear History In Search the "on-line" state. Clear History In Search In the "off-line" state, users can perform offline browsing, where pages can be browsed using local copies of those Clear History In Search pages that Clear History In Search have previously been downloaded whilst in the "on-line" state. This can be useful when the computer itself is 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 Clear History In Search 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, Clear History In Search either by checking that the local copies are up-to-date at regular intervals Clear History In Search or by checking that the local copies are up-to-date whenever the browser is switched to the Clear History In Search on-line state. One Clear History In Search such web browser capable Clear History In Search of being explicitly configured Clear History In Search to download pages for offline browsing is Internet Explorer. When pages are added to the "Favourites" list, they can be marked Clear History In Search for being made "available for offline browsing". Internet Explorer will download to local copies both the marked page and, optionally, all of the Clear History In Search pages that it links to. In Internet Explorer version 6, the level of direct and indirect Clear History In Search 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 Clear History In Search configurable for each
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The Clear History In Search ideas of "on-line" and "off-line" have been generalized Clear History In Search from Clear History In Search 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 Clear History In Search 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 Clear History In Search argument that the distinctions in Clear History In Search relationships are more complex than a simple "on-line"/"off-line" dichotomy, he observes that some people draw Clear History In Search no distinction between an "on-line" relationship, such as Clear History In Search indulging Clear History In Search in cybersex, and an "off-line" relationship, such as being pen-pals. He also argues that even the telephone can be regarded as an "on-line" experience in some circumstances, and that Clear History In Search the blurring of the distinctions between the uses of various technologies (such as PDA and mobile telephone, television Clear History In Search 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]
Slater asserts that there are Clear History In Search legal Clear History In Search 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 distinction", stressing, Clear History In Search however, that Clear History In Search this does Clear History In Search not Clear History In Search mean that on-line relationships are being reduced Clear History In Search to pre-existing off-line relationships. He conjectures Clear History In Search that greater legal status may be assigned to on-line relationships (pointing out Clear History In Search that contractual relationships, Clear History In Search such as business transactions, on-line are Clear History In Search already seen as just as Clear History In Search "real" as Clear History In Search their off-line counterparts), Clear History In Search although he states it to be hard to imagine courts awarding palimony to people who have Clear History In Search had a purely on-line sexual relationship. He also conjectures Clear History In Search that Clear History In Search an "on-line"/"off-line" Clear History In Search distinction may be seen by Clear History In Search 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 "off-line" as reality is sometimes inverted, with "on-line" concepts being Clear History In Search used to Clear History In Search define and to explain Clear History In Search "off-line" activities, rather than (as per Clear History In Search the conventions Clear History In Search of the desktop metaphor with its desktops, trash cans, folders, and so forth) the other way around. Several cartoons by The New Yorker have satirized this. Clear History In Search One includes Clear History In Search Saint Peter asking Clear History In Search for a user name and a password before admitting a Clear History In Search man into Heaven. Another illustrates "the off-line Clear History In Search store" where "All items are actual size!", where shoppers may "Take it home Clear History In Search as soon as you pay for it!", and Clear History In Search where "Merchandise may be handled prior to purchase!". |
