John Hunter over at the Curious Cat Science and Engineering Blog has a good post which all technologists should read:
This blog is all about open and free access to knowledge. While some folks in the traditional publishing industries might not like this trend ... do they need to slander we netizens who recognize the the inevitability of change. Open access is a good thing, and should be extended to academic papers. A publisher's goal should be to add value to the equation, but the basic knowledge should be free.