I found this:
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If you like to program in VS2005 and like to get started on Lego Mindstorms, microsoft is making available an SDK to work with C++, C#, VB and J# for free.I believe MS also announced today that the Visual Studio Express promotion will be permanent (free forever). It seems like they want to conquer the sympathy of hobbyists.
Cheers
Padu
PS: I'm never played with Mindstorms, but I am developing all the high level code for my two robots using C#, and so far so good.