I've never heard of a way to do this outside of Win32, even though I can't see why it would be impossible. I have heard of various ways of "cheating", usually involving creating a .txt or .rtf file, and naming it .doc. Word will (reportedly) convert silently on the fly when opening.

If no one here answers your question, and you discover an answer, please post it. I'm sure you aren't the first to face the dilemma.