phicou

I have a school-age family member who is interested in programming, but does not have internet access.

As a beyond-last-minute Christmas gift, I'd like to make a CD, DVD, or thumb drive (as needed) with programming tools he can use offline.

He has access to Windows PC that was probably mid-grade when they got it about 3 years ago.

Can you suggest any environments or tutorials that are simple enough for a beginner and can be used without internet and without any major changes to the computer (such as installing IIS)

Two friends and I are planning to start a web business and were wondering what type of business structure is best forour situation. We intend to do this in our spare time, and we are not planning to seek outside investments or loans,at least for the time being. Our initial project is small in scope, but we feel it will be profitable. In addition,it will give us a chance to try working together and see if we want to try out something more ambitious (our "change the world" project). We're wondering what type of business structure will be best for us.

We would prefer to:

* limit our liability (in case someone has a bad experience because of something from our site)

* keep our business based in our home state (WI), unless there's a strong reason not to

* minimize the need to involve accountants, attourneys, etc.

* Keep taxes simple and avoid double taxation.

We've been looking at descriptions of partnerships, LLPs, LLCs, and S-Corps, but we aren't familiar with all the nuances. Does anyone with experience in this area have a recommendation for our situation? Are there other factors we should be considering here?