The fact that this feature of that firmware update was so hidden that it was only noticed when people saw different behaviors makes it rather the opposite of what's proposed. Additionally, I seriously doubt that Apple deliberately withheld the ability to use 8GB of RAM in software only to add it back later. Much more likely it was a bug or just something that they didn't have time to finish. Neither would apply to running a single core of a dual-core processor in an Apple TV.