<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.6000.16527" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV>> Yep, it's a strange one. People install all sorts of software on their<BR>> Windows machines and yet I bet this wouldn't void the warranty. I'd be<BR>> interested to read the *actual* warranty that came with the machine.<BR>> Cracked screen hinge or not, I guess if it's in the warranty then it's<BR>> in the warranty.<BR>> <BR>> Philip/.</DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>For anyoone in this position, a check with the trading standards reveals that while it is legal to put anything you like in a warranty, it doesn't mean it's legal to uphold.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>In this case, the fact is that PCW have a policy that requires Windows to be the only OS installed. The goods have a material defect not one which cannot be attributed to installed software.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I've been following this quite closely and I have to say that I'm inclined to believe it's FUD. When it was posted on Slashdot one tof the replies was from a Curry's (part of the same group as PC World) area manager who asked the poster to contact him directly. I can't help but wonder if this is in fact more to do with how the case was cracked rather than the software installed.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Dougie Richardson<BR><A href="mailto:dougie@lynxworks.eu">dougie@lynxworks.eu</A><BR><A href="http://blog.lynxworks.eu/">http://blog.lynxworks.eu/</A></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>