What is clone? - Definition from Whatis.com

A clone is an identical copy of something and is a term that first became familiar to the public from the biosciences. In the computer industry, the term became widely used in referring to imitations of the IBM PC by Compaq, Dell, and others. Clones of the PC allowed users to purchase a comparable personal computer at a much lower price than that offered by IBM and helped make PCs affordable for more people.

Contributor(s): Mario Grullon
This was last updated in June 2000

Do you have something to add to this definition? Let us know.

Send your comments to techterms@whatis.com