I did some searching and found this:
https://www.dcddcc.com/docs/2014_paper_microcode.pdf
Section 2, paragraph 3 explains that microcode itself is proprietary, i.e.
this is how the CPU's are made and sold.
https://libreboot.org/faq.html#microcode
"The updates are proprietary, and are software, so we exclude them from
libreboot. The microcode built into the CPU already is not so much of an
issue, since we can’t change it anyway (it’s read-only)."
It seems Libreboot's documentation doesn't clearly say that the microcode
itself is proprietary. They talk only about updates and why they exclude them
from Libreboot itself. In other words Libreboot cannot make the CPU itself
more free and updating the microcode will neither reduce or increase freedom.
But it can reduce the vulnerability to Spectre. Or it can inject other
vulnerabilities. It's all out of our hands.
Anyone feel free to abolish with facts what I say. That's just the info I
found.
