Pfft. The answer is apparent: force manufacturers to sell it, and force customers to buy it. And outlaw Linux while you're at it, because it decreases the demand for Windows XP N. We'll be the judge of what you need, citizen.
When anybody talks about European sophistication and superiority, I think about crap like this.
So, how hard is it to download WMP? Is it a free download? if so, it seems to me that this is a non-issue. Also, what about Realplayer or Quicktime? Sounds to me like the resellers are just being anal-retentive.
I could see myself buying it. The windows default player isn't that great and there's far better programs out there with better functionality.
I fail to see what the difficulty is here. Why not do what I do for configured systems; install a default OS, and optional OS other than the default if requested, and in all cases FOSS programs to provide extra fucntionality. Where a particular program is not available (such as this article on a no-WMP system) I install an open-source alternative. As an example, I get asked quite often if I can install MS Office on a machine. I respond that of course I can -but somehow, most people are unwilling to part with the extra 500$ the suite requires. That is when I select My OpenOffice cdrom, and install what they need to perform the work they wish the machine to do.