> it seems some of "x1000 lessons" have been learned ([...] UBoot not CFE, [...] faster CPU).
The decisions for the particular boot loaders had nothing to do with "lessons learned". P.A. Semi used CFE for their Electra/Chitra boards, and Freescale used U-Boot for their P5020DS board. So they made the choice and A-Eon/Varisys simply followed it to minimize cost. Also, the P5020 simply wasn't available before 2012 (the year of the X1000 release), so A-Eon/Varisys couldn't use it as base for the X1000 in 2009 (when the QorIQ P5 series wasn't even announced).