DAO is kind of like a faucet to spread to ETH far and wide ... for free!!
Great marketing stunt (not sure how it makes money in the end game though guise??)
That will finish if the soft fork happens. I think the DAO holders are busy convincing the miners to do a soft fork.
The miners will do a hard fork. It is in their interest not for the thief to dump to the market. But they might not do a hard fork.