What are the differences between C# and VB.NET apart from syntax?

In normal C# code, you can't use pointers because pointers could point anywhere in memory which means that the CLR would be unable to verify the code.

However, by using the 'unsafe' keyword, you can use pointers provided that you take responsibility for any errors that may occur as a result of the code being unverifiable.

In my experience, unsafe code is only used in a small minority of applications - mostly those which are interfacing with hardware or with code written in unmanaged languages such as C/C++.

So this is not really a major omission as far as VB.NET is concerned.

Apart from this, there's a long list of minor differences between C# and VB.NET but none of them are significant enough to sway you one way or the other when choosing between the two languages, IMO.