On a personal note, I think learning Hebrew is much easier than learning Russian (or even German). If you go to Israel and take Hebrew in ulpan, you can come out speaking Hebrew in six months - not perfect Hebrew, but confident and competent Hebrew. It's not a language that's too hard to get if you put yourself in the right environment.
I took four semesters of German in college, and I can't speak much more than three sentences.
That said, everything comes down to your motivation and commitment. I always recommend Hebrew from Scratch for learning conversational modern Hebrew, which is where Hebrew should begin (in my opinion). If you don't know the alphabet, pick up the Hebrew Primer from Berhman House Publishing. It's the best way to go.
Software? I've never done it. Hebrew from Scratch has accompanying CDs.
