Just as an example watch the "we use bitcoins"-video. (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Um63OQz3bjo&feature=player_embedded#at=21)
@ 0'19'' it shows a price tag with a regular transaction fee of $0.30 and says "fees are much lower"; under the tag it shows "0.01 B"
This clearly is a promotion of how cheap transactions fees allegedly are.
Now at a BTCUSD=19.00 this means transaction fees are 19 cents - with the exchange rate rising even more.
(Sure, I do realize that at the time when the video was produced it had probably not been foreseen, that the exchange rate would rise at the speed it did, but anyways it still is contradicting - especially to newbies/potential adopters , I think).
Ok, new fee is reduced - check
Ok, 0.0005 BTC is "much lower" than 0.30 USD but just a week ago it was even more (when the rate was 31 USD and min trans fee was 0.01 BTC).
I still think, that a percentage with a cap for larger payments would be a better system.
Like say 0.25 % Fees: min. 0.00000001 max 0.125 BTC (so every transaction exceeding 50 BTC will be charged with 0.125 BTC transaction fee)
PRO: any amount can be sent
CON: larger amount would pay more than today
So content creators and charity could really benefit from it, while the "many, many" drug dealers and buyers would "subsidize" the small scale economy.
What do you think?
PS: I thought there was a built in way that old blocks do not have to be fully downloaded - couldn't that solve the problem of massive data transfer?
