Although it's more than a decade old, Microsoft Publisher has only recently earned grudging respect from Office users. For years, it was stereotyped as “desktop publishing with training wheels,” and serious page designers shunned Publisher in favor of big, expensive, complex programs like Adobe's PageMaker for their projects. Publisher 2003 goes a long way toward eliminating that image, with a rich set of design tools that you can use to build sophisticated publications for print or online use.
Publisher 2003 is aimed squarely at the small-office/home-office market, with many new publication types and design sets designed specifically for common business scenarios. Publisher also takes top billing among all Office programs for building quick Web sites and e-mail–based publications such as newsletters and product announcements. The new Catalog Merge feature lets you create product catalogs and similar publications using data from a range of data sources.