Quake 3 for pc DID let you use software rendering, but it had to be enabled in either config file or as a parameter.
set allow_software_gl 1
or
quake3.exe +allow_software_gl 1
Q3CE uses a 3rd party GL-ES library that pretends to be hardware but is infact rendering in software, on the axim x50v/x51v it uses the Intel GL-ES library.