and on mac it uses the keychain to store things...? I'm starting to see why this may actually be a non-issue

Answering my own question - this is a non-issue (it seems). Chrome apparently uses an API (at least on windows) to use account info to encrypt the passwords which presumably is only available if the user has actually logged in.

Locked, unlocked, what's the difference? If you're not using whole disk encryption, what good is locking going to do if someone steals your computer? Removing user account passwords from systems tends to be rather trivial...

Fair enough. I would buy the argument that it will be 'soon.'

Sure but this is supposed to be targeted at power users (the whole F1 metaphor). How do the specs of the Edge compare to your current or even last primary workstation?

It seems to me like the real purpose of a device like the edge is to replace your desktop hardware. Is that really possible yet?

Aside from the question of how and when to update the 'time and motion' study data, does this setup the right incentives for the industry? It essentially says 'we will set the benchmark for adequate, and then you try to do whatever you can to beat it economically.' If the revenue at the margin is fixed, the way to drive profit is to decrease costs as much as possible. Of course, the benefits are not passed on to the consumer if the price fixer is asleep at the switch...

Or does this story dismiss its own relevance at the end?

What about a provision that says you are only allowed to run this software on hardware that I have sold you? Or a provision that says you can watch this media any time within the next 24 hours?

It's unclear at best what effects license terms can have on the 'first sale doctrine.' Hopefully that will be clarified by congress at some point.

I dont think purveyors of DRM systems view them as being flawless. The point is not to make it impossible to pirate content but to make it inconvenient enough that the average consumer wont do it.

Other than, of course, that the company which produced the content wants to sell it that way and today has the right to do so.

The steep curve here is content licensing not distribution technology. All of their current implementations / platforms will become obsolete long before their potential competitors will have a crack at getting the same content on their platforms.

Or the legislation is outdated. AFAIK the big DRM users (Netflix, Amazon, Apple, etc) are not doing anything illegal with it.

Well, sure, but copyright allows the rights holder to exclude users and uses of their content. If they say you can only use access this content on the third sunday of a month while hopping on one foot, they have the right to set those conditions or deny you access if you decline to adhere to them. It feels to me that if you oppose DRM on these grounds, you must also be opposed to proprietary software licenses.