My experience in France is that they bring a bottle of chilled tap water to your table as soon as you've ordered.

Thirty years ago, you would not have seen many people buying bottled water. It would have been regarded largely as an unnecessary luxury. Personally, I don't like the non-hygienic way that people suck on a bottle over a period of a few hours. I would rather get a fresh cool drink from the tap than drink warm water from a bottle.