I'm trying to get my elder kid (12, technically adept but gets bored quick) into programming. I thought it might give him something constructive to do and perhaps I could help out. My problem is I just use vi to edit and then dump the programs on a web server and run them - that won't work with him - he'd really want one simple app that with a screen to edit the program, another to see the output and perhaps one for warning messages.

Any simple suggestions for a MS Vista env? Are there other languages I could try - I tried LOGO a while back but he got bored of doing shapes on screen. I looked at a gaming language (can't remember the name) which interested him but it was far too complex for him (and possibly me) to use.

as you've posted in the PHP section you could consider chami softs HTML Kit. it has lots of extensions for PHP and other stuff
HTML-Kit Features

if you are brave enough there are eclipse plugins for PHP

PHP can be either command line or webserver executed

I took one look at a screen shot of the html-kit and guessed it was a bit complicated for my 12 year old - your kids must be brighter than mine . I really just want something where I can show him how programs are built and then hopefully let him play. He certainly doesn't want any fancy features. Is there nothing simpler out there?

The hassle with command line is you're left with having one explorer window open to find the code. Another program (Vim or notepad) running to edit the code. Then there's the command line window itself which makes any fancy modern monitor mimic the appearance (and features) of a 1970's teletype. I just don't see that working with the kid.