This report stirred up a huge controversy. Intel at first denied that the problem existed. Later, Intel claimed that it was not serious and would not affect most users; however, if you could prove that you were affected, Intel would replace your processor. However, although most independent estimates found the bug to be of little importance and have negligible effect on most uses, it has caused a great public outcry. Companies like IBM (whose "586" Pentium clone competed at that time with the Intel Pentium line) joined the condemnation. Finally, Intel was forced to offer to replace all flawed Pentium processors, at huge potential cost to the company (however, it turned out that only a small fraction of Pentium owners actually bothered to get their chips replaced).