You mean gcc in terms of DJGPP. Give the guy a break. He wants a nice IDE.
Don't rush into Windows programming with VC++. It would be a better idea to build Win32 Console applications in MSVC++6 'introductory version'. This way you can study the definition of 'C' or 'C++'. In a few months MSVC++6 will be dead in terms of Windows programming because there have been so many radical changes that are going to be introducted in Visual Studio.NET. Infact Visual C++ is not the native language of the compiler. Now you will have C# which is a technical marvel to behold.
Therefore, indeed don't hesitate to purchase the 'introductory version', but don't get the standard edition, nor the professional, nor the enterprise editions.
As soon as you upgrade your computer to a Microsoft Next Generation operating system such as WinXP, than buy the 'academic edition' of Visual Studio.NET. (see link on my signature)