It's been a while, but I'd like to post a quick update. I got everything working in time. I made a bound manual describing my friend's exploits in the cnc universe, and a credit list full of in-jokes about our group of friends. Intro movie, install movie etc were made. Collector's edition includes the game on usb stick, slavik's combat knife (cheese knife), tanya's shirt (xxs cammo top) and cabal's core (electronic garbage from my company). Also a "double high density storage device" as in, a 2HD 1.44mb diskette. All nicely packaged in shrink wrap with box art => his face on tibsuns box style, with the box being duct-tape silver (as in, lined with duct tape).
Took me a month of free time, and I've had as much fun making it as he had unboxing it. Yes a month might sound like too much but without internet these kinds of things tend to become a bit more elaborate.
As for the win7 thing. To be honest, I'm not "everyone". Quite the contrary, getting TFD to work in win7 x64 is pretty much my job description, and if I can't do it, 99% of gamers can't. I'm glad for those who manage to get it to work though, most people just give up after 5 minutes. I'm not "most people" and neither are those on this forum. I only started the VM after several weeks fruitlessly trying to fix TFD under win7, only to realize it'd never work. Once I got it to work, it was only natural to gift it to a friend.
Online through a VM is easy btw, at least it's easier than getting TFD to work in win7