Well,
Vsual Studio 2010 Ultimate is currently in open beta, You can take it.
But I also prefer to keep an Visual Studio 2008 Pro Near, Witch I know won't fail me.
Soz, You choose, You can either go for the beta or nicely torrent the 2008 ,
Other way than that, There are a few open source programs around, Code:Blocks is my fav'e.
Hope this helped yas a bit.
Melodia