Paint it "Monster-green" and put Sam Hill's name on it; that'll make it "teh SEX" in the user-comments section...

Not that I'm discounting all of someone like Specialized's engineering...

I wouldn't necessarily agree with that last comment. Big companies lack an incentive to do any true innovation. Take the new SX-Trail, for example. It uses a "new" linkage that's the same concept that Knolly has been using for the past few years (a secondary linkage around the seattube). It's in the best interest for someone like the Big S to let someone else do the leg-work in proving that a design works before putting out their own version of it...if the risk doesn't pay off (i.e. fails), they don't lose out on anything...only the little guy does. It's the little companies that try the "daring" designs, which I'm sure anyone can offer examples of both the successes and failures.

I disagree. We absolutely need as many choices as possible. More choices just require the consumer to do more research when picking a new frame. Otherwise, you're just picking based on marketing hype. I'd rather see the number of manufacturers increase any day, rather than having to buy something from the "General Motors" of bikes (such as The Great Trek Bicycle-Making Company or the Big S).