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"Macs come with lots of great software thrown in for free"

But they don't really, do they? It's included in the price you pay for the device, because the OS and the Apple programs which come with it can only be run (legally) on Apple hardware. It's simply another way of getting users locked into Apple systems. Which is then used as a springboard to get people to buy other Apple devices and online services, as they are all designed to work well with other Apple systems, and less well or not at all with competitors' systems.

Windows is now a similar model - other than people who build their own system hardly anyone pays up-front for a Home or Pro license - pretty much all ready-built computers come with one included in the price, and upgrades are free for as long as the device supports the new versions (this has only really become an issue with W11 - Apple have been doing it for far longer). Microsoft then uses Windows as a springboard for other paid services - notably Office subscriptions, but also subscriptions for WIndows Enterprise for companies who want features not in the pro version, and the many other Office and Azure-related online services.

On the subject of Microsoft Office, the main gap in competitors' products is a decent email client. Libre Office is absolutely fine - for home use at least - as a Word / Excel / Powerpoint equivalent. But there's no decent Outlook equivalent that I've managed to find. I don't like Thunderbird (the single-line mail folder display looks very antiquated). EMClient is the best I've found, but that was quite buggy last time used it for a while.

And in business settings there are of course other lock-ins - in particular, use with Microsoft online services (only the Microsoft office programs do that well), and add-ins for things such as finance and CRM systems which only work with Microsoft products. This makes anything else apart from Microsoft office impracticalin many cases.

And of course Microsoft are making the standalone versions of office more and more awkward to obtain and use, because the subscription model is more profitable!