The Microsoft tax is more than offset by crapware. I don't know if there's crapware available for Ubuntu; perhaps Canonical can afford to pay Dell for every copy of Ubuntu due to the new Amazon integration.
If you can find some kind of citation for that, I'd be interested. It is offset to a degree, but probably less than $50 per unit. Windows 8 costs more than that to the OEM.
Also crapware makes your product seem crappier, so you have to drop the price to remain competitive. I'm not sure there's much to gain from it despite how prevalent it is.
Also crapware makes your product seem crappier, so you have to drop the price to remain competitive. I'm not sure there's much to gain from it despite how prevalent it is.