Bitcoint Transaction Fees become prohibative

[elements]

Hi,

I am relativly new to this, but when I first learned about bitcoins one of the most interesting things about it was that micropayments can be made. I use the standard bitcoin client (Mac OS X) and as a test I send 0.12 BTC to my wallet. When I tried to send them to another bitcion address an error message told me that the amount cannot be send unless I pay a fee of 0.01 BTC (which today means a transaction fee of 0,31 USD for the amount of 3,72 USD or 8.33 % respectivly).

Especially with regard to the expoloding exchange rates I think this is much to high for a transaction!

How will people be able to donate small amounts or pay for digital content let's say an amount of 0.000005 BTC if they are forced to pay a transaction fee of 0.01 BTC? That doesn't make an sense at all. If there has to be a fee to give miners an incentive, then why is it not a small percentage of the amount in question. This way it is clear to everyone how much the transaction costs and miners still get paid.

UNLESS I don't understand the client, which might also be possible
In that case I am happy to be enlightend


Cheers,
- elements

[benjamindees]

The transaction fee is to prevent abuse at the moment.  Right now the threats to the Bitcoin network are large in proportion to the legitimate transactions.  The transaction fee places a cost on spamming the network with fake transactions that it can't handle yet.  It's not much of an incentive to miners and won't be for a long time.