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The story came to light after a blogger took his laptop back to one of PC World's London branches. The man claims a crack had developed near the left hinge of the screen, which was spreading into the laptop's casing.

However, the man was shocked when the store's staff refused to repair his machine because he'd installed Linux on the PC, which had invalidated his warranty. "I was told that they do not have to help me and that's it," he writes.

However, a spokesman for PC World told PC Pro that there is "absolutely no question that it invalidated his warranty."

"It was simply a misunderstanding," the spokesman claims. "Rest assured there will be no similar misunderstandings in future."

However, our Linux-loving blogger isn't entirely satisfied. His carefully nurtured system will have to be erased and restored to its original Windows state for the repair to take place. "I have put a lot of time into setting up this laptop, and to be told it will be erased sucks a bit too. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that I would prefer that, than a broken hinge though," he adds.