> His answer is essentially that there's no great time to force a change like this Maybe there's no "great" time, but there are certainly poor times to do it,

> His answer is essentially that there's no great time to force a change like this Maybe there's no "great" time, but there are certainly poor times to do it, and it looks very much like they chose one. jsz0's guess seems much more plausible: they took the decision a while ago because they thought they'd be in better shape by now, but they misjudged badly. Had they realized the state things would be in, they would have lost little by continuing to use Google maps for another year—and doing so, they could still easily achieve their long-term goals while avoiding a great deal of egg on their face (and the associated hit to their reputation as "the company that does things right").