Do you believe that is what Microsoft employees do while writing Windows Internals? I have serious trouble believing it. I'm not saying that it's not possible, just that it might not be the case there and these facts seem to confirm it.
I'm not so sure, maybe he was a contractor if that's what you mean (I don't see any real difference). He had a @microsoft.com e-mail address, which is a pretty clear indicator of being on the inside.
