Simple 2D Animation Software for UNIX-like OSes

BSDanimation asks: "I want to create slide based cartoon-like animations with speech bubbles and simple programmable 2D effects in a widely accepted format like MPEG or AVI. I have considered using Ming to code a Flash animation, but then decided against Flash and would prefer to stay away from such proprietary formats. Blender seems nice, but is too complex and a complete overkill. OpenOffice presentations seem promising, but I am not sure if it is possible to program effects and speech bubbles in it and export such presentations into a format other than Flash. What free UNIX-like OS based open source software is there for such simple 2D animation that would also allow me to distribute my animations commercially without any licensing restrictions?"

Blender is not Overkill

[ironfroggy]

There is no more reason to say that Blender is overkill for such a task than to say OpenGL is overkill for non-3D graphics. Just use a single view angel and don't move anything in the third coord. Southpark is even animated with such a tool. Besides, this will allow you to expand your effects in the future, should you ever find the need.

Artificial limitation

[node 3]

Are you sure you want to artifically limit yourself by not using Flash?

Flash is sort of the obvious answer, and there are essentially no practical drawbacks to using it. I'm all for promoting freedom and openness, but if your primary goal is to create a 2d animation for people to see, Flash really is the way to go.

Not only that, but your hobby will also be spent learning a skill which can be very highly marketable.

Besides, I believe it's trivial to convert a flash animation into other, more traditional, video formats.