Out of C++ and C#, which is easier to learn?

I recommend C#. C++ has a lot of weirdness that C# doesn’t.

Define “weirdness” lol :)

for example

(or try playing around with C++ templates for a while)

Should I start with Visual C# or is there a better product out there? (Free would be best :P)

free

(but not as slick as Visual Studio)

One quick question about licensing. Developing an application on something like Mono is no different then developing it on VS, is it? Licensing wise? I’ve always been confused about how licenses work in the open source world.

I don’t know a lot about licensing details, but I’d bet other people here do. Post another fluther question about it?

You decide what you license your application as, regardless of the programming language. If you want to use C#‘s newest features you’ll always risk Mono not yet supporting it.

Java or C#.

C++ carries extra baggage.

HTML and PHP

I would highly suggest C#, which is what I am learning now. You can do windows applications, web based applications, console apps, really whatever you want (wpf and silverlight as well). You can obtain all the tools you need for free, either you can use the command line compiler that comes with .NET, or you can use SharpDevelop (free c#/.net compiler). Although I would recommend just using Visual C# 2010 Express and, Visual Web Developer 2010 Express. They are both free (you can also download SQL Server express), you just have to register them.