Is there such a thing as free flash authoring software?

[Bill]

I want to start studying flash creation and designing - but dammit, adobe flash 9 is $700, and I'm not sure I want to commit to $700 before I've had a chance to play with the shit a little to figure out if I'm interested in learning more.

Anybody know of free or low cost flash authoring tools?

[Cleo]

You can download a 30 day demo and it is fully functional but I don't know of any free software.

The upgrade is a lot less. All you need is some old serial number that is typed in when you finally pay for it. It can be a serial number that you borrow from someone or someplace as Adobe doesn't actually check who the serial number belonged to or anything. I just did this for the new version of Photoshop and GoLive.

[r18net]

How about looking through eBay for student editions which are being sold? (Not sure if it is moral to buy it that way), But i picked up the Macromedia Suite a couple of years ago for $200AUD when it was retailing for around $1500AUD

[niterider]

Easy yet powerful is Swish at a reasonable price http://www.swishzone.com/

[tickler]

Haven't tried these yet but you might want to take a look.
http://www.goldshell.com/

Online flash creator.
http://www.toufee.com/

[Porn Junkie]

I will second swish for flash. Personally, its WAY better and easier to learn than Flash itself. I've built entire sites with swish and it does a great job and is easy to learn. it's got prebuilt in effects which are easy to use.

Its $119.95 which I found was worth every penny. Just try the demo and you'll be hooked!