One example of a common use of these concepts is a Mail User Agent that can be instructed to be in Free People Search Germany either "on-line" or "off-line" Free People Search Germany 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 intervals, for Free People Search Germany example), and when Free People Search Germany it is "off-line" Free People Search Germany it Free People Search Germany will not attempt to make any such connections. The "on-line" or "off-line" state of the Free People Search Germany 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 ADSL connection, but Free People Search Germany may wish for Outlook to Free People Search Germany be off-line, so that Free People Search Germany it makes no attempt to send or to receive Free People Search Germany messages. Or the computer may Free People Search Germany be Google Yahoo Search configured to employ a dial-up Free People Search Germany connection on demand (whenever an application such as Outlook attempts to make connection to a server), but the connection may be an expensive telephone call Free People Search Germany from the particular location in which the computer currently happens to be (such as a hotel Free People Search Germany room) and the user may not wish Outlook to trigger making that call every 5 or Free People Search Germany 10 minutes to check for mail.
Another example of the use Free People Search Germany of these concepts is in the world of digital audio technology. A tape recorder, digital editor, or Free People Search Germany other device that is "on-line" is one whose clock is under the control of the clock of a "synchronization master" device. When the Free People Search Germany 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" uses no external clock reference and relies upon its Free People Search Germany own internal clock. When Free People Search Germany a large number of devices are connected to a sync master, it is often convenient, if one wants to Free People Search Germany hear just the output of one single device, to Free People Search Germany take Free People Search Germany it Free People Search Germany off-line, because if the device is played back on-line all synchronized devices have to locate the playback point and Free People Search Germany wait for each other to be Free People Search Germany in synchronization.[2] Free People Search Germany (For further related Free People Search Germany 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 Free People Search Germany be instructed to be in either "on-line" or "off-line" states. 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 be browsed using local copies of those pages that 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 Free People Search Germany pages are either downloaded implicitly into the web browser's own cache, as a result of prior on-line Free People Search Germany browsing by the user, or explicitly by the browser being configured to Images Search keep Free People Search Germany local copies of certain web pages, which it keeps updated when the browser is Free People Search Germany in Free People Search Germany the on-line state, either by checking that the local copies are up-to-date at regular intervals or by checking Free People Search Germany that the local copies are Free People Search Germany up-to-date whenever the browser is switched to the on-line state. One such web browser capable of being explicitly configured to download pages for offline browsing is Internet Cd Cover Mega Search Explorer. When Search Toolbars pages are added to Free People Search Germany the "Favourites" list, they Search Engine For Classifieds Ads can be marked for being made "available for offline browsing". Internet Explorer Free People Search Germany will Free People Search Germany download Free People Search Germany to local copies both the Free People Search Germany marked page and, optionally, all of the pages that Free People Search Germany it links to. In Internet Explorer version 6, the level of Free People Search Germany direct and indirect links, the Free People Search Germany maximum amount of local disc space allowed to be Free People Search Germany consumed, and the schedule on which local copies are checked to see whether they are up-to-date, are configurable for each
The ideas Free People Search Germany of "on-line" and "off-line" have been Free People Search Germany generalized from computing and telecommunication into Free People Search Germany the field Free People Search Germany of human interpersonal relationships. The Free People Search Germany distinction between what is considered "on-line" and what is considered "off-line" has become a subject of study in the Free People Search Germany field of sociology.[7]
The distinction between "on-line" and "off-line" Free People Search Germany is conventionally seen as the distinction between computer-mediated communication and face-to-face communication (e.g. Video Search Engine Full Length face time), respectively. "On-line" is virtuality, and "off-line" is reality (e.g. Free People Search Germany real life or meatspace). Slater states that this distinction is "obviously Free People Search Germany far too simple". To support his argument that the distinctions in relationships are more complex Free People Search Germany than a simple Free People Search Germany "on-line"/"off-line" dichotomy, he observes that some people draw no distinction between an "on-line" relationship, such as indulging in cybersex, and an "off-line" Free People Search Germany relationship, such as being pen-pals. He also argues that even the Free People Search Germany telephone can be regarded Free People Search Germany as Free People Search Germany an "on-line" experience in some Free People Search Germany circumstances, and that the blurring of the distinctions between the uses of various technologies (such as Free People Search Germany PDA and mobile telephone, Free People Search Germany television and Internet, and telephone and voice-over-IP) has made it "impossible to use the term 'on-line' meaningfully in the sense Fast Ftp Search that was employed by the first generation of Internet Free People Search Germany research".[7]
Slater asserts that there are Free People Search Germany legal and regulatory pressures to reduce the distinction between "on-line" and "off-line", with a "general tendency to assimilate online to Free People Search Germany offline and erase the distinction", Free People Search Germany stressing, however, that this does not mean that on-line relationships are being Free People Search Germany reduced to Free People Search Germany pre-existing Free People Search Germany off-line relationships. He conjectures Free People Search Germany that greater legal status may Free People Search Germany be assigned to on-line relationships (pointing out that contractual Free People Search Germany relationships, such as business Free People Search Germany transactions, on-line are already seen as just as "real" as their off-line counterparts), although he states it to be hard Free People Search Germany to Free People Search Germany imagine courts awarding palimony to people who have had a purely on-line sexual relationship. He also Philosophy Search Engine conjectures that an "on-line"/"off-line" Free People Search Germany distinction may 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 Free People Search Germany is sometimes inverted, with "on-line" concepts being used to define and to Last Name Nationality Search explain "off-line" activities, rather than (as per the conventions of the desktop Free People Search Germany metaphor with Free People Search Germany its desktops, trash cans, folders, and so forth) the other way around. Several cartoons by The New Yorker have satirized this. Free People Search Germany One includes Saint Peter asking for a user name and a password before admitting a man Free People Search Germany into Heaven. Another illustrates "the off-line store" where "All items are actual size!", where shoppers may "Take Free People Search Germany it home as soon as you pay for it!", and where Free People Search Germany "Merchandise may be handled prior to purchase!". |
