ARM architectures also suffer from this. You'll be hard pressed to find a board that doesn't require a propriety board support package somewhere in the stack.

Ironically, it is usually the bootloader that is/requires a blob or it is the DTB.

I remember being in middle school and reading Stallman's articles on the dangers of a TPM-oriented push by manufacturers. As cliche as it is, Stallman was right.

The push for platform security is also a push for platform ownership. Tinkering/hacking/your ability as a hardware owner is at ends with corporate security needs and that is a shame.