content: Having the preinstalled OS Jack's up the final price of the hardware.      The OEM volume discounts reduce the price quite a bit. They have a pretty slim margin and intense competition.     Why not just offer a computer with a blank HDD and let users havr the option to choose their OS of choice?     There are a few that do, but they're not very popular. Also, the shovelware people often collectively pay the OEM as much as the volume Windows license cost them.