Have had Falcon (hate to use it as an example) for the past 10 years and have been happily flying with my Squadron mates for 8. I don't count the number of times I've changed hardware, machine, formatted or simply re-installed the sim. In the meantime I've spent time with many other games which, once finished, went into a box for good.
If you expect Squadrons to form up, mods to be installed and uninstalled, people will need a platform allowing them to do so. Limiting the number of activation on a product which, supposedly, will be on our machines for quite a long time, is not what I'd define "user friendly".
As it will not be possible to make a copy or fly without the dvd inserted, I'd like to know what happens if, after a year or two, the dvd becomes unusable? Will ED send me a new one?
As you seem the only kid on the block, at least for a while, I'd probably still buy it. Am I enthusiastic about the idea? No.
If the product is good people will buy it. This is not a game you take off the shelves and sell 15 days later. If you want it you buy the box, the manual and the nice keyboard or joystick layout that usually comes with the DVD.
Keeping it simple is an option.