1. An exact duplicate: "Our product is a clone of
their product." Implies a legal reimplementation from
documentation or by reverse-engineering. Also connotes lower
price. 2. A shoddy, spurious copy: "Their product is a clone of
our product." 3. A blatant ripoff, most likely violating
copyright, patent, or trade secret protections: "Your product is a
clone of my product." This use implies legal action is pending.
4. `PC clone:' a PC-BUS/ISA or EISA-compatible 80x86-based
microcomputer (this use is sometimes spelled `klone' or
`PClone'). These invariably have much more bang for the buck
than the IBM archetypes they resemble. 5. In the construction
`Unix clone': An OS designed to deliver a Unix-lookalike
environment without Unix license fees, or with additional
`mission-critical' features such as support for real-time
programming. 6. v. To make an exact copy of something. "Let me
clone that" might mean "I want to borrow that paper so I can make
a photocopy" or "Let me get a copy of that file before you
mung it".
