So was 68K a dead end or just not profitable ?

[KThunder]

motorola sold and continues to sell 68k devices as microcontrollers. Cpus were actually a pretty small part of their sales.

In other words yeah it was a dead end as far as cpus go but definitely not dead, and yes it was and continues to be profitable.

[KThunder]

there was more of a transition with the classic cisc machines. there where risc concepts being used in the '040 and 486. The 386 is considered to be the last of intels purely cisc cpus.
 
As for a pure risc core the pentium pro was the first, and it was a pretty good cpu too, the risc core in the ppro formed the basis or the ppro, the pII and the pIII

[KThunder]

ok motorola sold and freescale continues to sell...