Good animiated gif programs?

[LLDL]

Hey guys. I was wondering if any of you know some top of the line gif animating tools?

As you can see, I have a gif in my sig, but I used gifninja.com. I want a program so that I can make my own...say signature? But animated? I want to at least be able to do something like this -

Thanks in advanced guys.

Preferably a freeware program, but if it requires pay, I would like a recommendation from user who has bought and tested and can vouch that the merchant is trustworthy

 

[SkylerOcon]

Adobe flash is obvious, though it's best version (MX Professional 2004) is like... 400 dollars, I think?

I'm pretty sure that you can also use Gimp to animate, but I'm not sure.

 

[Raider 88]

Adobe flash is obvious, though it's best version (MX Professional 2004) is like... 400 dollars, I think?

I'm pretty sure that you can also use Gimp to animate, but I'm not sure.

I'm 99% sure Gimp can edit .gif files.