Originally Posted by Mr&Mrs

1) A good platform (upgradeable) to start with at a price point of $600 or less.

Go with either entry level Nikon or Canon, before you buy one, go to the stores and play around with them to make sure you like the ergonomics of the camera. That is really why I went with Nikon over canon, at the time I liked the menu layouts and the placements of the buttons better than Canon [I haven't played with canons that much since... so things might have changed]

2) A good book or site that covers all the basics I will need to know to start off in the hobby.

Check out Understanding Exposure by Bryan Petterson. It is a good read and if you don't know anything about camera's and their settings it helps out with that. Another good book will be your owners manual. A good website would be to read through threads on places like Photocamel.com or photography-on-the.net

3) A decent photo editing software that is easy to use, or at least has good support for me to find my own answers.

Photoshop Elements would probably cover what you need to do. There is almost endless support out there for Photoshop. I use a combination of Lightroom and Photoshop.

4) Any tips or things that have stuck with you from your first few months (or years) of learning.

Learn to handle critiques, and don't listen to your family on if a picture is good [they tend to be a bit biased]

Thanks!