If all he wants is a splash screen - you could do this in C/C++ win32 API
and it would run no problem on all desired platforms - though to avoid
writing or illegally copying JPG decompression code - you will find yourself
using Bitmaps.   (Or - since he doesn't know C++ very well he could hire
someone pretty cheap at one of those places like rentacoder or similar.  I
suggest embedding the image in the EXE file itself)   Definitely test on
EVERY version of windows you can find though - cause you never know when MS
will throw you a curve ball.

As for the application itself . . that would be a little silly to not
require a framework.

I had a link for a tutorial to make CDs autorun on windows once.  Don't
remember where it was, but I think all you need to do is add some file
called Autorun (or similar) to the root directory with run information in
it.

But the OP can put it on the CD and use a starter executable
to run the app directly off the CD without any previous
installation.

You could probably pack some 1.3.x JRE on the CD, but
honestly, a multi-megabyte JRE just for displaying a
splash screen seems a little bit over-the-top to me.

I'd recommend PureBasic for building a tiny standalone
win32 executable. If you're careful with the APIs you use,
you should be fine on every Win9x or later.

Not if you use the right tools and limit yourself
to Windows systems in the "Win9x, WinNT and newer class".

Finally, there should be *many* "CD menu" applications
out there ... I dimly remember using one about 5 years
ago, where you could choose different skins and define
a few actions via a .ini file.

s.