Hard to believe it ever came to this for such a high profile figure in tech publishing as PC World’s Harry McCracken, but Wired’s Epicenter is reporting that Harry McCracken has quit PC World in a scuffle over the very editorial integrity of his publication. Apparently IDG’s new CEO Colin Crawford demanded Harry kill an in-progress (and obviously titled) article dubbed “Ten Things We Hate About Apple” because it wasn’t advertiser-friendly. (IDG also owns Macworld, if that tells you anything.) So Harry stood up for his — and every journalist’s and blogger’s — editorial integrity and walked out.

Pete did a great job of summing up the significance of this, especially in light of Engadget’s 2005 AOL acquisition. Aside, it’s still a common question I get, though; just how much interaction does Engadget’s editorial staff have with the advertising end of the business? The answer is simple: none. Nothing’s changed. We have a strict separation between advertising and editorial (alternately, “church and state”), and the standing MO is still basically that the moment anyone that AOL tries to tamper with our editorial, we walk.

So kudos to Harry for doing the right thing and leaving his baby behind. I can only hope the rest of the staff at PC World becomes emboldened by his actions and takes a stand with Crawford that puts the article, however advertiser un-friendly, back in the mag, and Harry back in his seat — that is, if he still wants to work for some suit that would have him leave over something as ridiculous and smarmy as pandering to advertisers.