Adobe’s FlexBuilder is the Software Development Environment for Flex, Adobes Rich Internet Application platform. FlexBuilder is built on Eclipse, so any computer you run on it should have > 1 GB of ram and a processor > 2 ghz.

FlexBuilder is a very satisfying environment to work in. It is much more natural (as a programmer) to use than the actionscript editors in Adobe Flash. Because you are working in a fairly heavyweight Eclipse environment, those used to working in Microsoft Visual Studio may find FlexBuilder a bit slow. FlexBuilder does have a set of very capable debugging tools however, and these tools alone make the near-$250 price tag worth it. The addition of the powerful Designer mode (much like the Design view in Visual Studio) also adds a lot of value. Because of these features I strongly recommend Adobe FlexBuilder for development, and consider it a worthwhile addition to any Rich Internet Application programmers toolkit.

Rating: 8 out of 10
Pros: Feature packed, Eclipse environment is very configurable, Natural environment for experienced programmers.
Cons: Eclipse is a resource hog, so check to make sure your computer meets the minimum specs before buying.