That conclusion is based on the premise that their software would have been priced the same if they hadn't bundled in "free" software. Not sure we have enough data to make that conclusion.
Ultimately you were charged for the "free" bundled software, you just couldn't get a line item break down of how of the bundle price was made up by that "free" software.
Not saying that Microsoft should break down their OS prices by bundled software, or that it makes sense. But without that breakdown you can't make the assertion that "They never pushed up costs".
