Hi everyone....my first post here and newbie isn't the word.

I have done a lot of programming with Picbasic however for microcontrollers.

My first question....

I see the free VB express download and it looks like a great place to start but should I opt for the "learning edition" instead? Or are they the same thing?

It's somewhat confusing.....all the versions past and present.....VB full, VB for applications? (huh?), VBnet, VB learning, VB express.

My goal (for now) is to do a simple program that will react to some RS-232 data at a serial port and simply display some user configurable text boxes that will come up on the display.

Should I start with the express?

There are some decent tutorials at the MSDN site on it looks like or perhaps you all can also recommend some tutorials -- books --etc.

I love the see spot? see spot run? concept in learning.