Next Xbox Always Online Rumors Finally Put to Rest?

For awhile now the internet has been filled with rumors surrounding Microsoft's next gen console. Defiantly the most controversial rumor around is the always online rumor. Most people don't like the thought of an always online console and for good reason. I mean, just look at the recent Sim City release. That game had to be connected to the internet to play and when the servers went down no one that had the game could play it. It was a mess and for about a week people couldn't play a game that they purchased. The Xbox rumor suggest that the Xbox must be connected to the internet to play games: so if you don't have internet or if the servers are down for some reason no one can play any games, single player or not. You may say "Well its just a rumor why would anyone believe this". Yes, its true that this is just a rumor but people are given a reason to believe it for many reasons. Microsoft has not said a word about any of the rumors at all: there silence scares people. Also to make matters worse a Microsoft employee said that always online is not a big deal and people should just "Deal with it". Microsoft later fired him and said what he said was his opinion but again did not comment on the rumor.  But finally a new rumor that sounds legit was released today stating in a memo sent by Microsoft to there employees saying:

"Durango is designed to deliver the future of entertainment while engineered to be tolerant of today's Internet. There are a number of scenarios that our users expect to work without an Internet connection, and those should 'just work' regardless of their current connection status. Those include, but are not limited to: playing a Blu-ray disc, watching live TV, and yes playing a single player game.”

Even though this is again just another rumor it seems to come from a more reliable source. I hope what this memo says is true because I don't think anyone really prefers an always online console yet. But I guess we will get all the answers on the Next Xbox on May 21st at there press conference.  Hopefully the rumors will all be put to rest there.