I was thinking it had something to do with Palm (I loved Palm OS and used it for about 10 years until it got abandoned
)
Regarding Barnes & Noble's DRM, I know it's not as common, but for me it's the biggest selling point about the Nook...it's the only DRM flavor that uses password based encryption instead of activation. If I switch to Nook, that will be the reason. (And why I would have bought a Nook over a Kindle to begin with, had it been available.)