@chas:
MS Publisher was never intended to be used for professionally printed documents. And while I agree with some of your comments, I have to add that the program is very popular with small businesses, churches, and the like. It's easy to use and comes with a wealth of templates. Some of the negatives: Way overpriced unless you purchased the business version of Office for Windows, proprietary format, and bloated install.
And as you know, I usually recommend iStudio Publisher (native Mac app) because I have found that it will do everything that MS Publisher can do at a small fraction of the cost. The only drawback to iStudio Publisher is the small amount of templates that the program ships with. But considering the cost, that's understandable.