So far, from reading this thread, I can tell two things:
-The demo works just fine on Windows 2000 Pro
-In order for it to "work just fine", one has to screw around with editing MSI files or playing musical temp directories.
That's not so much a problem for us computer dorks.
The problem is with those that don't understand what an MSI file is, or does.
I presume that the developer and the publisher are attempting to cut down on the number of support requests they would potentially have to deal with if the game happily installed itself on an "unsupported" operating system.
If it wasn't tested on Windows 2000, but it works anyway... well, uh, what do they tell people when something unexplained goes wrong?
"Sorry we don't support that operating system."
"WELL WTF IT INSTALLED JUST FINE OMG!?!?!"
Oh, and here's a hint: just because it runs on your Windows 2000 system doesn't mean it runs fine on the majority of Windows 2000 systems. Of course, there's no guarantee that all Win XP systems will cooperate, either.
A work-around was created less than 24 hours after the demo was released. I will reserve my opinion of MS and ES until the full game is released. If this "full" game possesses some sort of new "safe guard" against Windows 2000, then I will have to break open a roll of ES toilet paper.
Until then, we shall wait.
ThePerfectCore
"My head asplode."