I just happen to see a new ad on the login screen yesterday where they extended the trial period from 14 days to 30 days. This is all and good, but the problem i see is that the time it takes to learn the game enough to determine whether if it's worth playing or not takes well beyond 30 days of playing, it takes 3-6 months of pure gameplay just to learn the gaming mechanics, takes 1 year or more for those that are slow learners (toddler players). If CCP is really serious of rebuilding the new player base from the Incarna incident then they need to make realistic changes such as limited skilling but with unlimited gameplay and, i don't like it but it might be good to have noob killing restricted so that noobs won't get pissed off on the trial and quit, secondly, there are way more to eve than just scanning, missions, and mining when you start playing, so why not add new types of tutorial missions exploring the more broader part of eve, that alone i think will cause more noobs to stay more than anything. What i would like to see is a tutorial Wormhole in real-time WH space but noobs can scan it down and warp to it and allow players to see how player owned structures operate and teach them about sleepers to influence players to go into null and WHs and have tutorial low sec systems as well teaching how pvp works in the game

With a 14 day trial you can see the design and philosophy of the game; you get an overview of the mood and look of the game and you can dabble in the core areas you will play in. You see missions, combat, trade, industry and from there the game, by design, expects you to extrapolate the possibilities.

I'd say, given the nature of EVE and the idea that we're meant to carve our own niches in the game and fling sand with merry abandon, the duration of the trial period is perfect.

It will cull those that do not appreciate, understand and embrace the concept of EVE. And for those that do it will give them a tantalising glimpse of the future possibilities, something they will grab with both hands and subscribe.

Then, a few random thoughts on the rest of your post:

• The player base post Incarna are still out there. They are likely waiting to see what happens after Crucible, before returning.
• At most what is necessary is some work on the New Player Experience and we know CCP is looking into that.
• Infinite trial would need severe restrictions so it is not exploitable by either bots or full subscribers (Can't run a trial + sub on the same PC, but with Hyper-V it is easy) and will thus be just about useless for what you want to achieve

Oh, and. F&I is thataway ==>