C# macro for WORD?

Question

Hello,

I would like to use C# instead of VB to write some bookmark macros for WORD and eventually some  for EXCEL, but when i see the cost of 'Visual Studio Tools for Office 2003' it's totally out of the question for now!

Is there a way that i can program using C# for WORD without having to fork out hundreds of dollars?

Is there a trial version or scaled down version of 'Visual Studio Tools for Office' and if i use the trial version and it expires, will i be able to download it again and pick up where i left off?

I finally got Visual Studio 2003 & Office 2003 Professional setup thinking i might be able to do some basic WORD programming, but not even close apparently!

And please exuse me for what might obvious questions, but i am a Java programmer who is trying to build a cross reference system using WORD and it's hypertext features, to navigate and document hundreds of Oracle programs and ects.

So i quess my question is then, is there a way that i can use C# to write WORD macros without incurring to much expense? or should i just go ahead, bite the bullet and learn VBA?

Thanks very much for any insights and or suggestions!
 
BobK