clone -
noun (Science and Technology) A computer which deliberately simulates the features and facilities of a more expensive competitor; especially, a copy of the IBM PC. Etymology: A specialization of the figurative sense of
clone which originated in science fiction: from the early seventies, a
clone was a person or animal that
had developed from a single somatic
cell of its parent and was therefore genetically an identical copy. The computer
clones
were designed to be identical in
capability to the models that inspired them (and, in particular, to run the same software). History and Usage: A usage
which arose during the eighties, as a
number of microcomputer manufacturers attempted to undercut the very successful IBM personal computer (and later its successor, the PS2). Also widely used for other cut-price copies (for example, of cars
and cameras as well as other computers). Amstrad
[is] leading the cut price
clones attacking IBM personal computers on price. Marketing 11 Sept. 1986, p.
5 The
company is a major porter to Far Eastern
clone makers, who are developing copies of Sun Microsystems' SPARC-based workstations. UnixWorld Jan. 1991, p. 68
