NQ obviously wouldn't be able to do this at launch, but a little later on, I think it would be a great idea to make the free trial server a recent snapshot of the persistent server.
This would naturally make the game more playable, and a much better representation of what the actual game is like. Players would be able to:
*VR over to a vast array of placs to look around.
*shop the markets, loaded with player orders.
*Visit any player-run shops, and buy from dispensers, like GottMart.
They would be able to make some money, get a bigger ship together easily to play around with. Get a DSAT to play around with asteroids, or buy a Scanner and TU's to see how that gameplay works, buy weapons and ammo, and look for someone to shoot in the PVP zone (Maybe NQ could spawn constructs at some location, so players could have something to shoot at.)
I don't think this would be too much for free players, and it'd be great advertising, letting them see what the game is actually like currently, with there still being the obvious downside of frequent resets, still driving them to sub if they really wanna play after trying it out.