I'm in the same position as you, and I agree. The thing I find so puzzling about the Flex Builder pricing is the dissonance in pricing from student to company.

I'm in the same position as you, and I agree. The thing I find so puzzling about the Flex Builder pricing is the dissonance in pricing from student to company. For the pro version students pay $0, companies pay $700. I interpret '$0 for students' as 'adoption is more important than direct revenue today'. But if that is so, why charge companies $700? They also have impact on adoption. A MSFT esque 'start-up deal' would seem appropriate if they must have some direct revenue. Or better still, make the standard version free to all. I took part in an interview with Adobe a few months back regarding Flex Builder, specifically on the topic of whether I would buy it. As I said to them then, "it's too much money". Silverlight doesn't do what I need, but if it did, I'd be seriously considering it. Why are there so few free alternatives to Flex Builder? Is it because it's so easy to pirate that no-one has bothered?