I like Java a bit more. .Net is more or less the same for me, but different.
Personally, I found Java to be a bit easier to learn - *much* more easier than C++ anyway …

But I'm too long out of programming now. I'd need a course to get into it again. And I was never much active anyway …

The Garbage Collection is imho curse and blessing at the same time. Blessing, because you doN't need to take care of every detail (of course objects still need to be "un-allocated") - curse, because no-one knows when it is doing its job.