Rating: The issue is easy to solve.
Issue: You downloaded the Installer and installed SoF but the Game is crashing to the Desktop instead of starting a single player game.
Reason: You may have played Freelancer before. On every first start Freelancer is creating it’s Save Game Directory, where all settings are stored. With your new Installation of Freelancer 1.0 these Directory wasn’t deleted and Freelancer is going to use it, even though some settings may be incompatible.
Solution: Freelancers Save Game Directory is located in ..\My Documents\My Games\Freelancer. Just rename the Freelancer Directory for later usage or delete it completly (your settings will be lost). After it just start Freelancer again to get the SoF initial Update.