Proprietary software lock in?

I was checking out Dell this morning, looking at what they were offering in 2GHz+ systems, and I was disappointed to find that there was no Linux install option on any of their base systems. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, but if Dell did pre-install Linux on its base systems I might consider buying from them.

This got wondering if perhaps Microsoft is back to its old vendor lock-in tricks? Before the United States Department of Justice filed suit against Microsoft the big software company had exclusivity agreements with vendors. Vendors got a discount on Microsoft software provided vendors installed Microsoft software. This meant not just Microsoft Windows (versus OS/2 or Linux), but applications: Internet Explorer instead of Netscape, Microsoft Money instead of Quicken. And while Microsoft was found guilty and convicted of monopolistic practices, the impending breakup didn't happen, and Microsoft seems to be just as unrestrained as before.