Non-commercial developer licensing

Question

Are there any plans for a non-commericial developers license
for FB3? Either one of those free-for-non-commercial-use/"express
version" deals or at least something relatively inexpensive for
individual developers (sub-$100's range)?
I'm in a situation where I think I'd like to use Flex for the
front end to a few at-home-hobby projects, but I'm not going to
shell out $500 or whatever for something that might not fit my
needs after I'm a few months into trying to use it. The 30 day
trial evaluation is nice, but it's not nearly long enough to make a
decision at the pace I'm going.
I would think that something like this would spread the
popularity of the technology more quickly, and even generate more
cash flow for Adobe. As an example, like many others, I'm in the
position to push for (or not push for) purchasing Flex Builder and
possibly the additional add-ons at work (a pretty large and well
known employer), but I'm not going to do so if I can't comfortably
and confidently say that it is worth the investment. I'd like to
support this technology and start becoming an advocate, but it's a
little difficult with the current situation the way it is.

Answer 1

I
wholeheartedly concur. I have been experimenting with Flex
some on my free time, but I can only put in a little bit of time
here and there. Before I know it, 30 days is up. From the time I
had started with Flex2, and by the time I had enough time to really
devote to doing something with it, I'd run out of my trial. If the
demo actually clocked my usage and gave me 30 days of usage, that'd
be one thing, but even then $500 is a lot of money for what would
be for me an occasional use tool. I had a friend comment that $500
for what seemed to be primarly a GUI builder was a lot of money,
and I can agree. If I was solely a Flex guy, it'd be a non-issue,
but the door fee to get in and start checking out this club is
kinda stiff.
Alternatively, I'd love to see Flex bundled in a CS Web
Developer package similar to CS Web Standard, but with the addition
of Flex and maybe Cold Fusion, with a significant discount for
buying it that way. At least then I'm paying a bunch of money for a
whole suite of tools that I'm getting on the whole a decent amount
of use out of and I can justify the cost much easier then.