Re: Dead end?
Much of what you say is correct, and the walls are closing in on RISC OS unless they find a way towards a 64-bit neutral codebase from their existing handcrafted, well-optimised ARM assembly code.
The people involved in open sourcing RISC OS know this, and I am sure are working out what needs to be done, and what can be done.
Assuming they manage to successfully transition to 64-bit, it will be the biggest change RISC OS will have ever seen. I really hope they manage it.