@Suiseiseki
>Proprietary hardware isn't ever considered free
It may be not, but it's endorsed as if it was. The "Respect Your Freedom" criteria don't ever mention hardware. All it wants is that the hardware must run free software in all layers, that are user upgradeable. All the Intel GPU team has to do, in order to comply with this, is burn the FW in ROM, that can't be upgraded and then ask for a certification.

https://libreplanet.org/wiki/Group:Hardware/Certifications/Respect_Your_Freedom/Criteria

>Make up your mind.
>Yes, they will refuse to operate usefully by running in 480p mode without 3D accel, even though full rez and 3D accel is proven easily possible with free software.

That's literally what I said. The HW runs in a failsafe mode, that limits it's capabilities, because it can't be ensured everything works as expected. It's the same thing why CPUs don't support HW accelerated virtual machines without microcode. They literally don't know how without it.