Word and multiple conditions (a cutting edge skill?)

[MList -at- chrysalis-its -dot- com]

All,

I'm a longtime FrameMaker user who has minimal contact 
with Word. Not that I actively avoid it -- it just doesn't 
come up that much, so I'm way out-of-practice. 
I'm not looking for instructions, just a quick opinion.

Certain co-workers are of the opinion that Word can (reliably, 
cleanly, etc.) do something like what FM can do with Conditional 
Text, which is to say:
  make various words, paragraphs, objects, etc., appear 
  or disappear throughout a big document, according to 
  the setting of a global condition.

Basically, somebody wants to make a "framework" document with 
a whole LOT of markers/tags/place-holders in it. There's a 
core of text that is common to all versions, but for every one 
of those place holders/markers/tags, there are (say) four 
possible words or paragraphs or versions of multi-step 
instructions that would be automatically selected/de-selected 
to appear in the output.

When the document is applicable to product "A", the writer 
turns on condition "A". This causes the "A" version of the 
product name to appear in hundreds of locations, the "A" version 
of certain descriptions and explanations to appear, and the "A"
version of certain step-by-step instructions to appear.
Meanwhile, the "B", "C", and "A&W" versions of all those 
'variables' are invisible, and don't affect pagination.

Then, they turn off the "A" condition setting and turn on 
the "B" condition setting. All the "A"-version verbiage and 
pictures and whatever... disappears, while all the proper 
"B"-version stuff appears. Same idea with "C". Same idea with 
an "A" version that's adjusted for Windows users only 
(i.e., the "A" condition and the "W" condition are turned on 
 simultaneously, so the document addresses "Product A for 
 Windows").

As a nearly-never Word user, I don't have an authoritative 
opinion. If I were doing it, I think the task would actually be 
work-intensive insanity, even for FrameMaker (especially the 
dual "A&W" condition), and I'd prefer to go with something like 
XML and some scripting language for the text-selection and 
compiling. However, a certain locally influential person seems 
to think that Word could handle this easily, for multiple sets 
of several-hundred-page documents... based (I guess) on her/his 
past-life success with form-letters.

Maybe s/he's right. I'm leery. Is the above task a righteous 
use of the tool (Word), and I'm just a wienie?

Oh, ok. Ya got me. They want to try it with our Test Cases 
and other QA documents, and then (assuming success) implement 
the same thing with my customer documents (whimper, whine...)
... meaning that I'd have to abandon FrameMaker.  
But if enough of you think that Word is a suitable tool, I can 
hold my nose...   :-)

The criteria are that it be set-up then run in automated fashion, 
and then require only minimal tweaking/fixing, of the generated 
documents.  Whaddya think?

Thanks,

/kevin

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