Via the latest LangaList:

Because Microsoft has ended support for Visual Basic 6, REAL Software is offering Visual Basic users a new home-REALbasic. From now through April 15, 2005, Visual Basic users can get REALbasic 5.5 for Windows Standard Edition, completely free of charge.

You can get your complementary copy here. RealBasic = cross-platform goodness! I'm not a programmer, but if I were to start programming, I suppose I'd need something that was easy to use. VB certainly works, but… there are a few things about it (from an end user's perspective) that I found mildly irritating. The potential for inelegant user interfaces, for one. The bloatedness of distributed files, for another (almost a necessary evil, but easily avoided by more nimble programmers).