One example of a common use of Search Form 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 Search Form intervals, for example), and when it is "off-line" it will not attempt Search Form to make any such connections. The "on-line" or "off-line" state of the MUA Search Form does Search Form 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 Search Form modem or an ADSL connection, but may wish for Outlook to be off-line, so that it makes no attempt to send or to receive Search Form messages. Or the computer may be configured to employ a dial-up Search Form 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 from the particular location in which the computer currently happens Search Form to be (such as a hotel room) and the user may not wish Outlook Search Form to trigger making that call every 5 or 10 minutes to check for mail.
Another example of the use of these concepts Search Form is in the world of digital audio technology. A tape recorder, Search Form digital editor, or other device that is "on-line" is one whose Search Form clock is under the control of the Search Form clock of Search Form a "synchronization master" device. When the sync master commences playback, the Search Form "on-line" device automatically Search Form synchronizes itself to the master and commences playing from Search Form the same point in the recording. Whereas a device that is Search Form "off-line" uses no external clock reference and relies upon its own internal clock. When a large number of devices are connected to a sync master, it is often convenient, Search Form if one wants to hear just Search Form the Search Form output of one single device, Search Form to take Search Form it off-line, because if the device is played back on-line Search Form all synchronized devices have to locate the playback point and wait Home Value Search for each other to be in synchronization.[2] (For further related discussion, see MIDI timecode, word sync, Search Form and Search Form recording system synchronization.)
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A Search Form third example of a common use of these Search Form concepts Search Form is a web browser that can 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 Search Form perform offline browsing, where pages can be browsed using local Search Form copies of those pages that have previously been downloaded whilst in the "on-line" state. Search Form This can be useful when the computer itself is also off-line, with Search Form connection to Internet expensive or impossible. The pages are either downloaded implicitly into the web browser's own cache, as a Search Form result of prior Internet Privacy Software Search on-line browsing by the user, or Search Form explicitly by the browser being Search Form configured to keep local copies of certain web pages, which Search Form it keeps updated when the browser is in the on-line state, either by checking that the local copies are Search Form up-to-date at Search Form regular intervals or by checking that the local copies are up-to-date Search Form whenever the browser is switched to the on-line state. One such web browser capable of being Search Form explicitly configured to download pages for offline 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 Search Form copies both the marked page and, optionally, all of the pages that it links to. In Internet Explorer version 6, the level of direct and indirect Search Form links, the maximum amount of local disc space allowed Search Form to be consumed, and the schedule on which Search Form local copies are checked to see whether they are Search Form up-to-date, are configurable for each
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The ideas of "on-line" and "off-line" have Search Form been generalized from Search Form computing and telecommunication into the field of human interpersonal relationships. The distinction between Search Form what is considered "on-line" and what is Search Form considered "off-line" has become a subject of study in the field Search Form of sociology.[7]
The distinction between Search Form "on-line" Free Song Search and "off-line" Search Form is conventionally seen as the 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 Search Form that the distinctions in relationships are Search Form more complex than Free Marriage Search a simple "on-line"/"off-line" dichotomy, he observes that some people draw no distinction between an "on-line" Search Form relationship, such as indulging in cybersex, Search Form 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 the blurring of the distinctions between the uses of various technologies (such as PDA and mobile telephone, television and Internet, and telephone and voice-over-IP) has made it "impossible to use Search Form the term 'on-line' meaningfully in the Search Form sense that was employed Search Form by the Search Form first generation of Internet research".[7]
Slater asserts that there are legal 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, however, that this does not mean that on-line relationships are Search Form being reduced to pre-existing off-line relationships. He conjectures Search Form that greater legal status may Search Form be assigned to on-line Search Form relationships (pointing out that Search Form contractual relationships, such as business transactions, on-line are already Search Form seen as just as "real" as their off-line counterparts), although he Search Form states it to be hard to imagine courts awarding palimony Search Engine Marketing Tip to people who have had a purely on-line sexual relationship. He also conjectures that Search Form an "on-line"/"off-line" distinction may be seen Search Form by people as "rather quaint and not quite comprehensible" within Search Form 10 years
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The distinction Auction Search where "on-line" is seen as virtuality and Search Form "off-line" as reality is sometimes inverted, with "on-line" concepts being used to define and to explain "off-line" activities, rather than Search Form (as per the conventions of the desktop Search Form metaphor with Search Form its Search Form desktops, trash cans, folders, and so forth) Search Form the other way Search Form around. Several cartoons by The New Yorker have Search Form satirized this. One Search Form includes Saint Peter asking for a user name and a password before Search Form admitting a man into Heaven. Another illustrates Search Form "the off-line store" where Search Form "All items are actual size!", where shoppers Search Form may "Take it home as soon as you pay for it!", and where "Merchandise may be handled prior to purchase!". |
