Others say...

"Must-Have Software"
This is a must-have suite of programs and is a much better value than even the Student/Teacher Version. With Professional 2003 you additionally get:
- Publisher
- Access
- Outlook with Business Contact Manager
...these can be some very useful extra bits.

I was able to get the academic version as a student for just $80 directly from the company my school uses to provide academic software (other academic software titles - also with much more expensive retail versions - are available at similar discounts if you look around).

A competitor has also recently emerged that I should also note. I'm guessing that is probably has some of the people over at MS worried. It's called OpenOffice, and it's FREE! I haven't used it yet, but I've heard good things. So if you're looking for tools similar to the ones that MS Office provide & you have some time on your hands to learn the new interface, you might want to check that out first.

(nota bena: student/teacher gives you three installs on different systems, but I've also heard - not confirmed - that customers are not able to upgrade to the next version of MS Office when it comes out; instead they must purchase the new version)

Thank you for reading my contribution & best of luck in your search for new software!

P.S. I'd also love to hear if anyone knows if this upgrade restriction applies to Professional Academic Version as well.