Which is faster - Vb or Java?

Silly me is trying to be the futile guru again! I just brought a book called sql server 2005 express. Along with it I got the cd for Visual Basic 2005 express. Never expected it though. I just thought it was the setup for sql only. To my frusturation, sql needs a system of a minimum of 1gb ram to work. And when I put the cd into the pc, it automatically installed vb 2005. So well vb 2005 it was!

I liked the new look of the ide. It is cool and replete with features. Fortunately there was the MSDN express for vb alone that came along with it. So I looked into the tutorial and began learning how to work in it. Was vb 2005 same as vb.net? I assumed it was the same, until someone told me that vb.net with a little more features is vb 2005. Both are essentially object oriented. When I looked at doing things that I could do vb6.0 here, some of these things were different. For e.g building menus. You had some thing like the Menu editor in vb6.0. Here it is something called the menu strip control. You drag to onto the form and then add menu items it. However the philosophy behind making the  menus work (i.e. adding event code) is the same.

And finally every damn thing is a class.

But I didn't tell you why I am thinking of java and vb.net in contrast? What is it about these two languages that bothers me a lot? I wish I could express that part better. I have not started learning java yet, but I know or at least get to hear a lot about it. Anything I search for online has a java reference to it somewhere and somehow. Is this the popularity of java of is this the glass that drives all the moths to the flame?

I do not want to disappreciate java for what vb is or vice versa. It is just that I see these two languages right now as of in the same cradle. One is cross platform; the other is windows-only. Frankly whether a language is cross platform or not is not my concern at present. As a hobbyist I rarely ever think of making programs to be accessed by the internet; or by more than one person at one time. I just make things that reside in your system for your use only.

Yet for any one as passionately curious as I am to know which of the two is a better language, I don't have the answer. But I do know that vb has a good ide that allows you to draw controls and add code to it. You concentrate on the logic of the requirement more. Where as in java (so I hear) you have to do everything in code. Even if it is for a simple radio button, you have to code where it should be positioned and then do the  rest. So ultimately I believe vb is faster. I have no other information to conclude otherwise. This is what I currently believe until and unless I learn about other things.