..sigh lol

Don't be suspicious about it's existence, it really is going to download it's payload on April 1. Keep in mind the exploit Conficker was patched back in October. Also, this variant (Variant C) is an update to previous infections. It doesn't self-propagate like the A variant. If you've been keeping up-to-date, you're fine.

Also, the infection rate of Conficker reached it's peak in Janurary. Not even that peak was as high as the infection rate for MSBLAST.

This variant is a pretty hearty one. It definitely falls into the category of "format is easiest fix." I would advise determining if you're infected before April 1.

Microsoft has been doing bounties since MSBLAST. I want to say that's how they got the guy who wrote SQL Slammer.

My money's on a planned DDoS attack on a significantly noticeable network. That's the only way the timing makes sense. I mean, waiting for months just to send spam or steal passwords/credit card numbers doesn't make sense at all. One thing's for sure, the botmaster is happy with the size and scope of his botnet and is now ready to use it.

Symantec's writeup (They call it Downadup, but it is the same worm):
http://www.symantec.com/norton/security_response/writeup.jsp?docid=2009-030614-5852-99&tabid=1

What I don't understand is why now. The worm has been spreading around for several weeks, and the extra delay is giving people a chance to protect their computers before it wakes up...

Which works, unless the worm checks on an external time source...

I'd be surprised if this was the case, but you never know!

Yes, it's very much a real thing, although it hasn't had a huge impact... yet. While it didn't trigger itself on April 1st as it was expected, some stuff did happen a week later. It's able to evolve, too, so the worse might still be coming our way.