[OfSanguineFire]

It's not really a matter of "Russian links". Maps.me was sold from its original founders to a payment-processing company that hasn't been developing the app further. That was the reason for the fork of its open-source codebase as Organic Maps, which is very actively developed.

[matkoniecz]

Also, Organic Maps is run by (some subset of?) original founders.

Interesting case of why developers may prefer open source: company was sold, but code was open to legal reuse under a new brand.

[tuukkah]

Users may prefer for the same reason.

[verve_rat]

Surely a non-compete was involved?

[matkoniecz]

It has not happened immediately. Also, AFAIK they were not in USA but somewhere in Europe.

[lucideer]

Depends on the region you're in but non-competes vary wildly in enforceability. They mainly survive on the threat of incurring costs of a legal fight rather than likelihood of actual follow through enforcement.

[amne]

"to a payment processing company". Ok. Now it makes sense. I just launched maps.me on my phone for the first time in more than 2 years I think and I was wondering why it's asking me to log in and also inviting me to use the Maps Wallet? What? A wallet? In a maps app? Haven't uninstalled an app faster in my life.

[lucideer]

It's had 3 separate forks over the years: I was mainly basing my comment on the 2 predating the sale as I haven't actually tried Organic Maps (yet) - good to hear its actively developed. I had given up on the other two due to various challenges with the tile hosting. Must give this one a try.