Downloading the Dow Jones Intraday Data

As programmers we approach a challange by formulating a game plan or strategy for getting a job done. This is done early in our thinking process before we begin any code development.
My question to the forum is what approaches would makes sense, assuming that we had a provider out there that is willing to accommodate our needs for real-time data transfer (like every minute)?
What is the best approach to get data? Is there a spreadsheet (function), non vba solution as well?