Removing the wall between bonus room and living room

Hi everyone,

We live in one of the falt-roof atrium model with the 5th bonus room between garage and living room. The floorplan is the mirror image of this plan:

http://www.arjanihomes.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/atrium_rev_fo...

As you see, the bonus room could be a good addition to the living room, and it would bring in some extra light in with the large slider door in the bonus room.

We are interested in opening up the wall (but leave the post supporting the beam), but we are unsure about what kind of affect it is going to have in terms of safety. One structural engineer I talked to said "sure no prob as long as you leave the post". Another engineer said "That is a shear wall, and you can't remove it". So, I am not sure which one is more accurate. Are there others on this forum who removed that wall? Is it indeed a shear wall? If so, is there a way to remove it without reducing the integrity of the house?

Thanks in advance!