Need help installing / configuring

[dbf]

Okay, so if i read correctly, the free version of QT only works with mingw (yes, i have the free licensed)?

No, you can also compile your own Qt libs with msvc. These libs work fine with Visual Studio.
I compiled x86 and x64 and use it with VS 2008 Professional and the Qt VS Add-in. This setup utilizes the VS build system, which I prefer to the qmake/nmake scenario.

As for your mingw32-make problem: did you run qmake again to generate Makefiles for mingw? I expect them to be different from the msvc Makefiles. And I would try to run make against "Makefile" rather than "Makefile.Debug".

By the way: If you want to experiment with Qt, why not start with the QtCreator IDE? It is part of the binary-SDK for Windows and works out of the box. And it brings its own mingw-Version with it.