Scenario:
SharePoint Server 2007 with Office SharePoint Server Publishing Feature activated on farm/site collection, but not on every site within the site collection. Those sites without the Publishing Feature activated include the Save Site as Template link under the Look and Feel section on the Site Settings page of the site.
Those sites with the Publishing Feature activated do not include the Save Site as Template link. But, if you hard code the Save Site as Template URL parameter into the browser address line, appended to the current site address, that is, http://server_name/sitedirectory/sitename/(underscore)layouts/savetmpl.aspx , you can still save those sites as templates. Sites created from those templates then include the Publishing Feature activated by default.
By design?
SharePoint Designer doesn't discriminate and saves either publishing-activated or non-publishing sites as templates via its File menu.
Listening to “How Bizarre” by OMC