There is a long disrespected relic of MINIX, The Equinox Desktop Environment.
This DE has long eluded me, and up until now, have had no reason to install it.
First: Is the ede in the package repos? (Package ede is something else)
So if I am correct, version 1.2 uses the generic FLTK dev stuff, does any Debiphing need to happen after this (other depends?) Need to happen before make? Where should I put the result (prefix)? How do I make xdm start this as default?

Is there an alternative that looks like windows classic (long story)?

Second: When doing the magic of makinging a Debian package how do I make one withought changing the defacto/default prefix and not copying and pastig everything?
I want to pull ede into a deb if it isn't in the repos.

Give IceWM a try, it pretty much looks like windows. There is even a Windows theme.

If IceWM is to basic for you, it isn't hard to let LXDE look like any Windows version you want, like proven here: http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=80851