I'm not saying this is wrong, but I'd like to know:
1) How this e-mail got to ArsTechnica when everyone who received it is under NDA.
2) Why Microsoft had to tell the people working on the system that it would not be always online (why is that important?), why they didn't already know this, and why they didn't just send one to the news media, which is who they should be talking to.
3) Why that one Microsoft employee (creative director, I forget his name) got so up-in-arms over the issue if the system wasn't even always online to begin with.
If it is true, it sounds like it might be a reaction to fan outcry. That seems unlikely, though, because changing something in DRM like this at the last second would have to be discussed with a lot of publishers who were on board with that policy. It's just an odd situation in general.