document creation/ word merging, pdf printing program...

We are trying to develop a program to allow users to print PDF form documents
via a browser based program. We would like the users to be able to define these
documents using MS Word, with a predefined set of merge fields. We would then
like to convert the Word documents to a format that will be used in a linux
environment. Therefore, the tool we are looking for would need to be able to
read Word docs and know how to interpret it's merge fields, as well as perform
the merge via command line syntax on a linux server. We have briefly looked at
StarOffice/OpenOffice, but had problems with this program reading merge fields
from the WP docs. We also heard about command line merge functionality using
Word Perfect for linux, but have not had the chance to test using this program.
Does anyone have any idea if Word Perfect for linux would work, or have any other
suggestions?

Also, is there a forum in here that this would better fit in?