Clone (computing)

In information technology is a clone ( clone or English ) is a hardware or a software system that has been designed to exactly replicate to another system.

• 4.1 Software clones 4.1.1 Computer Games

Definition

From a clone is then typically speaking, if this competes with the prototypical imaging product yet directly on the commercial market. If it is, however, in order to replicate an obsolete or abandoned product ( without market presence ), is spoken in English, of a remake, as a special case of a clone.

Motivation

Clones and " remakes " are created for different reasons: competition, standardization, availability, and also as a tribute. Compatibility with the exemplary imaging system is usually the purpose of cloned hardware or low-level software such as operating systems (e. g AROS and MorphOS, which are intended to be compatible with AmigaOS ). Application software can often be cloned fact that it provides the same user functionality (all word processors have the same basic scope of functionality ), in addition, they can however also be developed so that they achieve technical compatibility, for example, by proprietary file formats of the original support (eg OpenOffice.org is in both respects a substitute for Microsoft Office to be).

Hardware

Hardware clones

When IBM announced the IBM PC in 1981, chose another firm such as Compaq, create clones based on the IBM specification or by reverse engineering. Since most of the components, except the PC BIOS, were freely available, Compaq had to "reverse Enginieering " develop only by the BIOS. The term " PC clone " to describe the IBM - PC compatible computer, was at that time. This class of computers since the 1990s but only simply called PCs.

In the console pane, the Nintendo Entertainment System was due to its long-lasting popularity of the most commonly cloned systems at all.

Hardware remakes

Hardware remakes are later replicas of old, leaking systems. For old video game consoles or home computer, this often happens in the context of retro gaming. A special, but frequently encountered type of hardware remakes are emulators that simulate the hardware functionality in software. An example is the UAE emulator software, which attempt to emulate the behavior of a physical Amigas exactly.

Software

Software clones

Software can be cloned by reverse engineering or as a legal re-implementation based on freely available documentation or specifications by observing the program behavior. The motivation for cloning may be the bypassing of license fees. The legal case Lotus v. Borland in the United States confirmed the Programmiern the right to publicly available functionality of a program, without whose copyright infringing to clone. An example of a clone software is the ReactOS project, which tries to create a clone of Microsoft Windows.

Computer Games

Since the existence of computer games successful concepts and games are often cloned. As an example, the genre -forming first person shooter Doom in 1990s a wave of so-called even Doom clones ( later only as a first person shooter called ). In the 2000s, the action -adventure Grand Theft Auto led to the creation of many Grand Theft Auto clones.

The open source software community has also to create a comprehensive tradition, clones of commercially - proprietary game titles, see the list of open source computer games. Example, SuperTuxKart, a Mario Kart clone, or the Anno clone Unknown Horizons.

Software remakes

Remakes of software are re-issues of old, obsolete or discontinued software (eg abandonware ).

Some of these remakes are Fangames of computer games which come from the user community as part of the retrogaming, also to the compatibility problem or the non-availability of the original encounter. Since the 2000s, there is also an increasing number of commercial remakes of classic game by the developer (or rights holders ) of the stock itself, but also because due to the now available option of Digital Distribution investment risks were also reduced for niche products. If this were revalued to their content (audio, graphics, etc.) then this are often called " high definition", "special edition", " Remastered " or "Enhanced " means, an example is The Secret of Monkey Iceland: Special Edition.