Only mentioned the problem I've been having in this thread alone and I get a WW2OL support guy to contact ME!  Said there was a new full version download that was posted this morning.  DL'd, reinstalled, and all is well.
Heh, spooky.  Perhaps someone here filled them in with my name/problem?  Perhaps the software alerted them that I was hanging on the "Matrix Games" splash screen?
Either way, I'm impressed.  I've heard funky stories about the customer service over there.  Score one for WW2OL in the support department.