haxx,
For easy-to-learn, Visual Basic would be the one in my opinion. It is the core behind the ASP scripting which is becoming very common, also the core behind all the VBA which is the code that runs behind MS Excel macros and MS Access coding, and also all the other MS Office products, and of course it is the language behind a great many production applications out there as well as internal custom apps.
However, C++ is what I consider 'The Mother of All Languages', mainly because so many applications and OS's are written using it (or C), and there is now and I believe will continue to be a strong demand for this skill. It is much harder to learn than VB, and even harder to Master. I would guess that you could become an employable VB coder within 6 months of taking VB classes (less if you take accelerated courses and do alot of practicing on the side. With C++ you might get an entry-level job after a year of C++ training, but you need much more experience in C++ to get to the 'journeyman' level.
Java has sort of become bogged down in a standards fight, and I don't know much about it's future--it was supposed to be the 'big thing' that all applications would be written in--it was supposed to make every other language obsolete (by some peoples hype anyway). Obviously, no language will ever be able to live up to such a claim, it's just the nature of hardware that prevents that from being realized. But it is easier to learn than C++, and may be worth a look.
The whole .Net thing is too new (in my opinion) to tell, and it's really more of a conglomeration of languages and environments than a 'language' per se, so I'm not sure that qualifies for your question, but being that it is a Microsoft thing, it will (regardless of how valid or stable or 'innovative' it is) become popular.
--Jim
