You have two choose :
* The first,you use a uC that integrated USB interface ,i know that some firm Texas,Phillip has uC have USB ,that uC compatible with xx51 product line,you must have compiler such as Keil C v7.0 and uVision to program for this chip.
* The second you buy a USB interface chip ,such USBNxxx of Philip and use data sheet and program for this chip and can communicate with PC by USB.
Good luck !
Microchip do two PIC's with USB, 16C745 and 16C765. Elektor recently (November 2003 I think) did a project using the 16C765. The hardware is trivial and software is readily available.
The Virtual Com Port driver is not mandatory for FTDI chips. You can use their API (embedded on dll) instead, that's what I did. If you want to buy few pieces of FT2232C I can sell them to you, look here: **broken link removed**