I don't think DeepBit or Eligius are the problem - the problem is people want to use the network for free.
If that attitude doesn't change at some point and if paid transactions aren't given highest priority, then when block rewards cease the network hashrate will probably fall significantly and network security will suffer.
The problem is the re-definition of "Free". My understanding is that Tycho is looking at changing his pool's settings to include transactions that were being ignored. As of right now, Deepbit only allows a small number of "free" transactions, BUT Deepbit considers transactions using 0.0005 BTC/KB to be "free" currently, thus limiting how many it will put into a block. At this stage of the network, that seems like a problem since the DEFAULT value is 0.0005 BTC/KB.
There are other problems with redefining what a "free" transaction is at the current stage of Bitcoin development:
1) There is no easy way to add a fee to a transaction with bitcoind or bitcoin-qt. Basically bitcoin does it in the background, using the fee per KB you specified in configuration.
2) There is no easy way to know what fee your transaction will include (if any) until you try to send it using bitcoin-qt. Using bitcoind will send it and just tack on the fee without telling you in advance.
I follow that. Thanks for the explanation.
Going OT for a moment, I think transaction fee use might be easier if, as well as the current 'pick a fee' system, the client had an option that just listed "Priority 1", "Priority 2" .. etc which a user could select when sending a transaction and each "Priority" level corresponding to a particular fee/kb.
This would make it easier to judge how much of a fee should be considered for a given priority, and will make it easier for mainstream use.
