building ms-office.deb (rpm, tgz)

[Edgar Holleis]

I'd like to build a (100% unofficial) ms-office.deb - a meta package
which requires the user to insert a MS Office CD (and a Windows CD)
extracts the necessary files from it and thus installs a (hopefully)
usable version of MS Office on Linux.

-> Has anybody done something similar (or spent time trying it)?
-> Does anybody have an idea why it could be impossible to do?

Why this is cool:
-> IT-managers argue frequently against Linux/*BSD that it cannot run MS
Office but they need it to be compatible with their cooperate partners,
clients, whatever.
-> Such a package has the potential of wiping out thousands of Windows
installations on those people's hard disks who would immediately switch
to Linux/*BSD if they could run Office on Linux.
-> If a lot of people start using MS Office on Linux there would be a
slight pressure on Wine developers to concentrate their efforts around
making it run more stable :-)
-> It would certainly annoy our dear friend Billy the Gates.

Why it sucks:
-> Because you would still need a license for Office (and most certainly
also for Windows)

Potential Problems:
-> There are dozens of different versions of office-cds around
(different languages, service packs, versions). My idea is to first
build a deb against one particular office-cd as a proof of concept and
then try to make it work with more and more combinations of Windows and
Office. An initial combination could be: Win98SE - Office97 - Debian
Woody.
-> I have no idea of legal implications.

What I need:
-> Feedback on the general idea, feasibility.
-> Feedback from people who successfully run Ms Office on Linux, and
their Wine setup.

Edgar