Hi.  I am researching a language to switch to after Microsoft EOL'd classic
Visual Basic.  Visual Basic.NET is nothing like the old VB.  Having been
burned by relying on a commercial vendor, I am on a quest to find a VB like
language that is free from corporate whims.  I went on a computer language
site that documented the history of computer languages and their lineage.

It was quite a shock to learn that Ruby may possibly be the brother of VB,
and that Ruby is the son of Algol 60.  Just a cursery glance over Ruby
confirmed that my beloved "begin" and "end" are there.  Sharing the same
genes as a Algol is quite a statement of pedigree.  No wonder 60 percent of
all programers speak VB to their computers.  And now, my fellow Algol 60
decendants, I am now close to making Ruby my langauge of choice.  My
langauge, VB, is dying a cruel cancer of corporate apathy, but now I have
found its brother so I am rejoicing.

So my question is, what do I need to know to get started from a VB
background?

P.S. Here's the link to the comp. lang lineage chart:
http://www.levenez.com/lang/history.html