I am interested in trying to learn flash. What would be a good program for me as a complete newbie to use? I am interested in anything free or fairly cheap as I am fairly cheap :-P. Basically, just a program that isn't too advanced kind of like a fireworks compared to photoshop maybe, if that is the right comparison?

Hi there. I would say you can try some free trial demo on the internet. Theres a lot of resources out there. Ever try Blender or Swish? Some people use Blender because they consider its better than Flash. Or you can try Coffeecup Flash  Blogger or Coffeecup Flash Form Builder.

To be honest, if your looking to learn flash, flash is the best application, there is a free 30 day trial available on the adobe site.

Flash is a unique program with many extras other programs dont support. If you dont want to dive right into flash, try out some animations in Image Ready or fireworks.