Sharepoint Portal Server 2003 - How do I make a web part?

[vetteguy]

As usual, Microsoft is going for the gold in obfuscation of information with one of their server products. Sharepoint Portal Server 2003 is the successor to Sharepoint 2001. As before, there are things they call "web parts" which are the plug-ins for the portal which can contain data, links, or anything else. There is limited (at best) documentation on the old system on how to make a web part, it's basically 'to create a web part, create a web part and then import it'. Anyway, after exhaustive searching on MS.com and google, the best I can come up with is you needed Office Developer to make a web part for 2001. But none of the documentation has been updated for 2003 (it's still in beta). The problem is, my company is planning on using 2003 when it is released, and I have been charged with making a web part for it before we commit. I cannot find information anywhere. Can anyone help? Does anyone even know what I'm talking about?