I have to say, I am becoming very impressed with Microsoft. Not that I am migrating away from Firefox, but besides a few bugs and kinks, Vista is a pretty nice operating system. Office 2007 is packed with features too, especially if you are in MS development..
In fact, I think these new tools promote laziness..
r9studio posted a resource for any developer looking to get into programming using Microsoft tools. The website is a MSDN product called the “Beginner Developer Learning Center,” and is completely free.
The site offers free downloads of Visual Studio Express Editions, Video Tutorials (hosted off of their ’soapbox’ site :0) ) complete web or application development tracks, and different tiers of difficulty.
If you have been following the web for any amount of time, and know of the happenings in web services and Microsoft’s SaaS push, getting familiar with the language makes sense.
As much as I hate to say it, Microsoft will be dominant for at least the next 12-15 years. If you are looking to get into software development or you just need a refresher course, it is worthwhile to check the site out.