How about we don't wreck anyone's lives?

The answer is always no.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge's_Law_of_Headlines

I'm sure Tor would love to cut margins and sell all their content direct as does Baen in my original post, but their books get far more exposure being sold through the Kindle store or iBook store.

The masses are not geeks and nerds who will stray from their primary download source, even with sci-fi/fantasy books.

This sounds great and all, but...

Would they really be able to convince Amazon or Apple or Sony to sell the books DRM free from their marketplaces?

One of the authors I read publishes through Baen books, DRM free (Or at least in multiple formats emailed to you), but you have to download from the Baen website because Amazon won't have any of it.

I suspect there will be a place you will be able to download DRM free TOR books, but from the markets themselves we'll still have DRM. Who knows though? TOR has some clout and some A list authors so they may be able to push their weight around.