Abacus... I think it would be possible to have an unaddressed section of memory where edits of 3rd party styles could be stored in. I mean, if you can have an area for putting the style in in the first place (so it can't be connected to a computer and whisked away to be shared) then that same area of the OS could also store the user's edits...

But bottom line, I think that even if you could do NOTHING to the style itself other than the parameters in your Performance, I think the benefit in an explosion of CONTENT would outweigh the disadvantages in not being able to edit it as fully as a ROM style.

Think how few REALLY edit their styles much now... I don't think the few power users would diminish the return from the majority who JUST WANT NEW HIGH CLASS STYLES!

All anyone wants to do, as a style creator, is make enough money at it to make it worth the time. To match the quality of the ROM styles takes a LOT of it. The current trend in file sharing has made it close to impossible for most to achieve ANY reasonable reward for their efforts. And so... the ONLY time we see high quality new styles in any quantity (the meager offerings by Yamaha don't really count, as few and far between and, TBH as bland and generic as they are) is when a brand new arranger comes out, and the cost of the styles is paid for by the price of the arranger. But protected 3rd party styles, I am quite sure, would lead to an explosion of content, including the genres we have all mentioned.

After, the DEMAND is there. Now all we need to do is monetize the SUPPLY. Basic economic theory.