I can't answer your questions but I do know that if you try to start programming in C++ by working with GUIs, you'll fall flat on your face. Every GUI framework that I know of assumes far too much core C++ knowledge for a newbie to make any significant progress.
This is one of the things a lot of perspective C++ programmers find hard to come to terms with: you have to spend a fair bit of time developing console apps with the core language to really get into graphical stuff. I mean, it's not a bad idea to understand the core of
any language before you do GUIs, but a lot of higher level languages like Java and C# provide a lower barrier to entry and "instant" gratification by providing GUI APIs as part of their standard libraries.
If you're still serious about getting into C++ then get the free Visual Studio C++ Express edition, get started on the typical beginner's resources like
http://www.cplusplus.com/doc/tutorial/ or
http://www.cprogramming.com/tutorial.html and try not to transfix too much on a single goal because you'll probably end up demotivated by the learning curve.