For Free! Visual Studio 2005 beta 1 is available to MSDN subscribers (at a later stage to non-subscribers as well) for immediate download and the lite versions (Microsoft decided to call them “Express”, like Outlook Express) of Visual Basic, C++, C#, J#, Webdev and SQL are available to everyone.
The Express versions are light-weight, easy-to-install products, targetted at hobbyists, enthusiasts and novices to enable them to expand their knowledge or just to create dynamic (web)applications without losing an arm and a leg.
Wow! I must say my perception of the whole Microsoft domination changed when they introduced .NET, but lately I think that one should wonder why NOT go with Microsoft?