I think by then, the VS.NET 2003 was still using 1.1 Framework so all the features will be restricted to that and VS.NET with 2.0 Framework will have more features. There should be some big improvements in the functionality.
It causes some frustation not to be able to follow the steps in the book. Like me getting stuck at chapter 15 now albeit using latest software. I suggest you're using VS.NET 2005 if you wanna get
VB 2005 books.