There are some differences, but most of it is the same, from what I've heard. Jacob Roman seems to do OK, and he's running W98 with VB5.

You can get VB6 from E-Bay, but watch out. Sometimes you'll get the Learning Edition, or some other bunk.

As long as you are thinking about upgrading, why not move up to 'Net? It isn't really that bad to learn, although I've been at it for only a few days. A lot of stuff is actually starting to make sense.

Of course, I'd wait until Net 2005 is released. I got Net 2003 thru a promo, so it didn't cost me anything. I hear good things about VS 2005, and I really want to get C# also.

I just found out today that there is MONO and MONODEVELOPER which is a free version of the 'Net compilers/IDE. Haven't looked into where to get it, though. It's probably just a Googld away.