i think he's just bored. he's done it all and his name hasn't
been in the press enough lately. although the latest ieee spectrum
has him on the cover with a big slide rule. i gotta find the time
to read that article.
perhaps he's fishing for venture capital for something new and needs
good press (or any press - or any press is good press).
perhaps it has something to do with the internet 
i used to think that he was ridiculous as well, but it's just
too easy. he might not fully understand the issues but i'm
sure that there are a hundred or so folks who used to work for
him who would be glad to explain them to him over the phone.
i think that there is a purpose here.
Jeff Young
young@mci.net
Pay-per-view Internet services like "micro-money" transactions to access
websites a la Ted Nelson's Xanadu and just generally a tiered structure
of services so that the upper classes can pay more and use the bus lanes
on the infobahn....
Read through the back issues of his column at http://www.infoworld.com if
you really want to know what he has in mind.
Personally, I think all those nickel-and-dime ideas went out when the
videotext industry failed. Prodigy was the only one to survive using
precisely the model of today's Internet. You pay an access fee and all the
content-providers let you look at the content for free but sell ads all
over the place to finance their websites.
Michael Dillon ISP & Internet Consulting
Memra Software Inc. Fax: +1-604-546-3049
http://www.memra.com E-mail: michael@memra.com