Bob,

You beat me to it: you must type faster than me!

Diego24,

It may have made sense to charge for access in the days before word proccessors and the internet. In those days the publisher had work to do.

Now it can all be done online by the scientists themselves for free: from setting up an editorial board, to finding reviewers, to distributing.

In my opinion, the real currency here is "kudos". Once scientists see that having a paper in a free access online journal gives at least as much kudos, they are happy to use this route.

You write:
"What is the next step ? All companies supported by tax funding should give away their developed meds for free ?"

It seems to me to be unfair that a company supported by tax dollars should not act socially responsibly.

John