One example of a common use of these concepts Illinois Corporation Search is a Mail User Agent that can be instructed to be Illinois Corporation Search in either Illinois Corporation Search "on-line" or "off-line" states. Illinois Corporation Search One such MUA is Microsoft Outlook. When it is "on-line" Illinois Corporation Search it will attempt to connect to mail servers (to check for Illinois Corporation Search new mail at regular intervals, for example), and when it is "off-line" it will not attempt to make any such connections. The "on-line" or Illinois Corporation Search "off-line" state of the MUA does not necessarily reflect the connection status between the computer on which it is running and Internet. Illinois Corporation Search The user may have the Illinois Corporation Search computer itself on-line, connected Illinois Corporation Search to Internet via a cable Illinois Corporation Search modem or an ADSL connection, but may wish for Outlook to be off-line, so that it Illinois Corporation Search makes no attempt to send Illinois Corporation Search or to receive messages. Or the computer may be configured to employ a dial-up connection Illinois Corporation Search on demand (whenever an application such as Outlook attempts to make connection to a Illinois Corporation Search server), but the connection may be an expensive telephone call from the particular location in which the computer currently happens to be (such as a hotel room) Illinois Corporation Search and the Illinois Corporation Search user may not wish Outlook Illinois Corporation Search to trigger making that Illinois Corporation Search call Illinois Corporation Search every 5 or 10 minutes Illinois Corporation Search to check for mail.
Another example of the use of these concepts is in the world Illinois Corporation Search of digital audio technology. A tape recorder, digital editor, or other device that is "on-line" is Illinois Corporation Search one whose clock is under the control of the clock of a "synchronization master" device. When the sync master commences playback, the "on-line" Illinois Corporation Search device automatically synchronizes itself Illinois Corporation Search to the master and commences playing from the same point in the recording. Whereas a device that is Illinois Corporation Search "off-line" uses no external clock reference Search Obama Quotes and relies upon its own internal clock. When a large number of devices are connected to a sync master, it is often convenient, if one wants to hear just Illinois Corporation Search the output of one single device, to take it off-line, because Illinois Corporation Search if the device is played back on-line all synchronized devices Illinois Corporation Search have to locate the playback point and Illinois Corporation Search wait for each other Illinois Corporation Search to be in synchronization.[2] (For further related discussion, see MIDI timecode, word sync, and Illinois Corporation Search recording system synchronization.)
A third example of a common use of these concepts is a Illinois Corporation Search web browser that can be instructed to Illinois Corporation Search be in either "on-line" or "off-line" states. The browser only attempts to Illinois Corporation Search fetch pages from servers whilst in the "on-line" state. In the "off-line" state, users can Search Relations Word Show Wordnet perform offline browsing, where pages can be browsed using local copies of those pages that have previously been downloaded Illinois Corporation Search whilst in the "on-line" state. This can be useful when the Illinois Corporation Search computer itself is also off-line, with connection to Internet expensive or impossible. The pages are either downloaded implicitly into Illinois Corporation Search the web browser's own Illinois Corporation Search cache, as a result of prior on-line Illinois Corporation Search browsing by the user, or explicitly by the browser being configured to keep local copies Illinois Corporation Search of certain Illinois Corporation Search web pages, which Illinois Corporation Search it keeps updated when the browser is in the on-line state, either by checking that the local copies are up-to-date at regular intervals or by checking that the local copies are up-to-date whenever the browser Illinois Corporation Search is switched to the on-line Illinois Corporation Search state. Illinois Corporation Search One such web browser capable of being explicitly configured to download pages for offline browsing is Internet Explorer. When Illinois Corporation Search pages Structure Construction Search Complex Part Word are added to the "Favourites" list, they can Illinois Corporation Search be marked for being made Illinois Corporation Search "available for offline browsing". Illinois Corporation Search Internet Explorer will download Illinois Corporation Search to local copies both the marked page and, optionally, all of the pages that it links to. In Internet Explorer version 6, Illinois Corporation Search the level of direct and indirect Illinois Corporation Search links, the maximum Illinois Corporation Search 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 configurable Illinois Corporation Search for each
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The ideas of "on-line" and "off-line" have been generalized from computing and telecommunication into Non Etrade Search Engines the field of human interpersonal relationships. The Illinois Corporation Search distinction between Illinois Corporation Search what is considered "on-line" and what is considered "off-line" has become a subject Illinois Corporation Search of study in the field of sociology.[7]
The distinction between "on-line" and "off-line" Illinois Corporation Search is conventionally seen as the distinction between computer-mediated communication and face-to-face communication Illinois Corporation Search (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 Illinois Corporation Search in Illinois Corporation Search relationships are Illinois Corporation Search more complex than a simple "on-line"/"off-line" dichotomy, he observes that some people Illinois Corporation Search draw no distinction between an "on-line" relationship, such as indulging 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 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 the Illinois Corporation Search term 'on-line' meaningfully in the Illinois Corporation Search sense that was employed by the first Illinois Corporation Search generation of Internet research".[7]
Slater asserts that Illinois Corporation Search there are legal and regulatory pressures Illinois Corporation Search to reduce Illinois Corporation Search the distinction between "on-line" and "off-line", with a "general tendency to assimilate Illinois Corporation Search 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 conjectures that greater legal status may be assigned to on-line relationships (pointing out that contractual relationships, such as business transactions, Illinois Corporation Search on-line are already seen as just as "real" as their off-line counterparts), although he states it Illinois Corporation Search to be hard to imagine courts awarding palimony to people Illinois Corporation Search who 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
The distinction where "on-line" is seen as Illinois Corporation Search virtuality and "off-line" Illinois Corporation Search as reality is sometimes inverted, with "on-line" concepts being used to define Illinois Corporation Search and to explain "off-line" activities, rather than Illinois Corporation Search (as per the conventions of the desktop metaphor with its Illinois Corporation Search desktops, trash cans, folders, and so forth) the other way around. Several cartoons by The New Yorker have Illinois Corporation Search satirized this. One Illinois Corporation Search includes Saint Peter asking for a user name and a password before admitting a man into Heaven. Another illustrates "the off-line store" where "All Illinois Corporation Search items are actual size!", where shoppers Illinois Corporation Search may "Take it home Illinois Corporation Search as soon as you pay Illinois Corporation Search for it!", and where "Merchandise may be handled prior to purchase!". |
