A while ago, I wrote a tip about the Visual Studio Express editions and how I recommend them for any level developer. Well, Microsoft now has their 2008 editions of the Visual Studio Express family of products available for download.

These free products are truly world-class and I would still recommend them to any level developer. Yes, the Express editions do not come with all the features of the Standard and Professional editions, but unless you want to do Office Business Application (OBA) or Sharepoint development (among other enterprise development), you probably will not notice the difference.

I would recommend Visual Basic to those new to development as it is a powerful and easy to learn platform for development (.NET 3.5). The intellisense is much improved over the 2005 edition which makes it much easier to learn.