@Bombastic Bob - I see Chromebooks being readily available in the US so Linux can be sold with some good marketing. Also, with Android being ubiquitous users are using a Linux derivative. Linux in a couple forms is very popular as is BSD. The number reports about Winbloat borking systems is making users warm up to the idea of something else.
OEMs are first loyal to themselves not Slurp and the fact many are testing the waters with Chromebooks and in few cases Linux preinstalled (Dell for one) means they think they can make money without 'bloat.