Thebutchersboy,
For me there isn't much difference between Quark Xpress and Adobe InDesign. I use both of them daily. Sure there are some minor differences but in the end, they both are designed to do the same thing. They both allow you to produce nice, printer friendly layouts (that can actually be printed or exported as a PDF). Which one is better? Only you can decide which tool is the best for you. For some people, they like the fact that InDesign comes with Adobe's CS collection and they are used to Adobe's interface (and InDesign plays well with other Adobe products). Other people avoid InDesign for those same reasons (some people actually dislike and don't trust Adobe, much like lots of people dislike and don't trust Microsoft). Some people prefer Quark's interface. I would recommend that if you are seriously considering InDesign or Quark Xpress, download them both and give them a try. See for yourself which one fits your style. They are both excellent products.
As RickyB mentioned, you can use Microsoft Word but I would avoid it if you are making catalogs or brochures. As I mentioned in my previous post, if you are printing things at home or the office, Word will work fine, just like Microsoft Publisher. Sure you can use Word to make catalogs or brochures but if you are going to have them professionally printed (and the key here is professionally printed) stay away from Word. Commercial printers will tell you that they "accept" Word files. What they don't tell you is that they actually charge you more because they have to take your Word file and then rebuild it in Xpress, InDesign, or Illustrator so that they can actually print it. Word works well for what it was designed to do, to be a word processor. If you are going to be doing more than that, try something else. In the end, it all comes down to what you are planning to do and then finding the best tool for the job.
Afraid I couldn't find one.
