MS was hell bent on meeting their release date, being out before xmas, and out long before ps3, thats why there is a shortage, in all honesty they released before they were ready (hence the defective consoles too)
as for them using us, they are definately watching these forums, keeping an eye on our progress, if they see us getting close to anything theyll fix it ebfore we even knwo what we are on to, thats why the real dev teams arent working here, they are working on private forums, IRC channels, and together in person, not in public