When I was in college the first thing we learned was OOD using Pascal, then moved on the C++. If you want to tie him down to Microsoft platforms then teach him VB or C#, if he truly wants to become a programmer start him with C or C++. That way he can learn to properly manage memory usage. If you start him in .Net he will end up like all these other fresh programmers coming out of school that have no idea how to properly manage memory or a thorough understanding of how a computer works. Just my 2 cents. Anthony