It has everything to do with Windows, as you admit yourself here. On Linux, there is no included software suite, there's only PPD drivers. Those bloated software suites only exist on Windows because they commonly tie them to the printer drivers. As for offering a driver-only download, I don't think that's normal for consumer-grade inkjets.

Edit: I'd also like to add that the whole "bloated software suite", not just for printers but for everything else, is mainly a Windows problem because Windows has a culture of downloading bloated software suites from the manufacturer, instead of having a "distro" with all the device drivers included by default along with lots of open-source software to use those devices. The idea of downloading some big pie of software (or getting it from an included optical disc) from a hardware maker, just to use your piece of hardware, simply does not exist on Linux. And that's the way it should be: the Windows way is what's given us gigabyte+ software suites for simple tasks like using a printer.