that was quick you must have broadband !

VS.NET isn't free.
I don't even know how much it is. I was going to buy an edu version for £60 but
I had VS6 edu and I believe there were important bits missing.
I eventually got an edu version with no samples and had to install Framework on
top.

Maybe you can download it ? I don't know ? But it comes on 5 cd's so its probs
best to buy them.

If you have the dosh ... get VS.NET Architect, it's better and comes with
SQLServer ... but its more expensive.

I'm just a poor unemployed welshman who can't even afford a printer and sound
card ( the truth!)

I'm just a poor unemployed American...it's a tough market over
here...

I was in Brody, Wales a decade or so ago...it is very beautiful and
the people were extremely pleasant. I was there on business but I had
a marvelous time...

I'll work with the console for a while and I'll purchase the ide when
I get back to work...

You could try some of the free IDEs - like asp.net webmatrix (avail at
www.asp.net <http://www.asp.net> ) or icsharpcode (avail at
www.icsharpcode.net/OpenSource/SD/).

There's also a free online book (in pdf) from wrox covering the webmatrix
you can peep at http://asp.net/webmatrix/web%20matrix_doc.pdf
<http://asp.net/webmatrix/web%20matrix_doc.pdf> . You still have to
command-line compile if you code-behind (unless you opt to go w/ the Src
directive in your Page attributes), but it's a pretty decent ide.