"silly to do it before the drop dead date, makes more business sense to dump as many shares as possible prior to the RS"
It actually is better business to do the R/S asap. They will be needing money to fund Avid expansion. 10 mil shares sold @ $2.10 is much better than 10 mil shares @ $.30
The R/S split benefits this BOD. And sooner is better then later for them.