@korneel Not going to quote all the points, but...
I don't make the decisions on what is going to be done - I only gave my opinion based on my experiences with big and small networks, for big and small companies at the time I was involved in this - that included commercial and non-commercial sectors including University networks etc. So don't make assumptions on sizes I have worked with, please, even tho it is already 15-20 years ago
At the time of implementation of the UM3, the use for static IP was moot (at least for those making the decisions). The stack, connman, should be very well able to handle it (being used on Android devices too afaik) but interface wise (hmi) nothing is defined.
Also, the impression of how it currently works is wrong. The MAC address is always there (for both the cable as wifi connection) but we lack in the display to show this information (when the network is not active). I think that is an oversight from our part, as we just should show both MAC addresses.
Unless I misunderstood your statement I quoted...