or you could look into OpenGL, as far as i know it does not require any redists, other then what should be installed with your graphics drivers.
That's one problem right away - there are a frightening amount of business and low-end "multimedia" PCs and laptops out there with Intel graphics. If they've got OEM drivers (which they most likely do) they very probably don't have OpenGL capabilities at all (blame the OEM for that), and even if they do - well, they're Intel aren't they? Decent enough D3D (for non-demanding rendering) but prepare to enter a world of suck if you're using OpenGL.