This update is very hard to read, there needs to be a clearer distinction between quotes from the owners and comments from the open letter people.

Here is just the quotes:

Roman Tsisyk:

Thank you for taking the time to prepare this letter. I appreciate how it thoughtfully highlights the same critical issues (“Values clash,” “Financial clash,” and “Corporate clash”) that I initially raised in my internal “MAPS.ME 3.0” post on Zulip, while also bringing forward new, absolutely valid points that I fully recognize from my experience as a long-term contributor to open-source projects.

It’s absolutely essential to learn from past experience and ensure that the history of this project does not repeat itself for one more time. A comprehensive retrospective process involving all relevant parties could help to find answers. However, we must act quickly to de-escalate the situation by addressing the major issues, or the retrospective could soon turn into a post-mortem.

As a potential path forward, I am once again proposing the idea of bringing this project under the umbrella of an independent, well-respected organization specializing in the legal, administrative, and infrastructure support of Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS) projects, such as the Software Freedom Conservancy (https://sfconservancy.org/), Software in the Public Interest (https://www.spi-inc.org/), or similar.

Following this path should eliminate current uncertainty, ensure legal protection of intellectual property, establish balanced governance involving all participants, and introduce transparent financial reporting for donations. It would also allow the project to resume work under the previously pre-approved grant. Moving under the umbrella of a suitable organization as described above could unlock new funding opportunities and enable donation collection through app stores — both critical for the project’s long-term sustainability.

This is a raw idea for consideration and not a legal offer in its current form. The next concrete steps should be determined within a working group that includes Viktor & Roman, all authors of the Open Letter, other interested members of the project community, as well as non-affiliated independent FLOSS experts and legal consultants. As a first step, I am proposing that we agree on the formation of such a group.

###Viktor Govako: ####1:

My answer is here:

• Roman took away my access to all key >resources of Organic Maps without my consent and refused to return it back. Github blocking in March was also a result of his actions.
• I decided that I will no longer work with Roman in any format.
• Roman offered to buy out his share in Organic Maps OÜ so that he could leave the OM project.
• The offer to buy out the shares was sent to Roman’s lawyer three weeks ago. I have not received any clear response or counter-offer yet.
• I had a conversation with NLNet where they offered to help in this situation. I will not refuse the idea of ​​non-profit or some hybrid if it helps to conclude a “divorce” deal with Roman.

####2:

Сейчас это комерческая компания с проектом в опен сорс. Это не противоречит друг другу.

DeepL:
“Now it’s a for-profit company with a project in Open Source. It’s not contradictory.”

####3:

Погоди, я то как раз не говорю кто тут “хороший”. А вот Роман в своем письме берет лживый нарратив “Александр - вор”, для Виктора “компромата” не нашлось, потому пришлось высасывать из пальца “You see Viktor - you get Alexander as a bonus”. И цель этого письма была очернить коллег, и пишет он там гордо только про одну свою ошибку “I must admit that I made significant mistakes when setting up this project”, что цинично уже само по себе, хотя бы потому что “сетили” этот проект мы втроем, но узурпатор вдруг решил иначе.

Ну и если ты внимательно посмотришь на тот тред, я просил разрешения у Романа (хотел соблюсти хоть какую этику, наивный :)) опубликовать детали по деньгам, а не ту херню, что он написал. Он мне конечно не ответил, и раз уж мы докатились до этой точки, то ложь и полуправда там везде, где есть числа денег:

• “Александр тратил деньги на отели” следует читать как “Александр тратил на отели, Роман тратил на отели и своего визового агенства, Виктор тратить не мог, у него и карты то не было, но выводил себе паритетно как за работу”
• “Средиземноморский отпуск Александра за 9К” следует читать как “… и визовые адвокаты для Романа за 6К”
• “Александр получил на личный счет 3200 от Гсок” следует читать как “… и Роман получил донаты с РФ на свою личную карту в размере ~3000”
• “In total, one way or another, Alexander drained around 27k EUR from this project during 2024” - это просто бред. За все время жизни, было потрачено фаундерами (с учетом еще лично вносимых денег): Виктор - 12000, Роман - 15000, Александр - 20000.

Ну и чтобы два раза не вставать. Роман, как настоящий срыватель покров, этот файл с расходами с корпоративного диска удалил (благо была сделана копия), о чем есть эпичная переписка в личке на мой вопрос “зачем ты это сделал?”. Так же как настоящий Дартаньян, Роман 2 раза тер личные переписки со мной и один раз даже удалял аккаунт в телеге.

DeepL:
"Wait, I’m not saying who’s “good” here. But Roman in his letter takes a false narrative “Alexander is a thief”, there was no “dirt” for Viktor, so he had to suck “You see Viktor - you get Alexander as a bonus” out of his finger. And the purpose of this letter was to denigrate his colleagues, and he writes there proudly only about his one mistake “I must admit that I made significant mistakes when setting up this project”, which is cynical in itself, if only because we three “networked” this project, but the usurper suddenly decided otherwise.

Well, if you look carefully at that thread, I asked Roman’s permission (I wanted to observe some ethics, naive :)) to publish the money details, not the bullshit he wrote. He didn’t answer me of course, and since we’re getting to that point, the lies and half-truths are out there wherever the money numbers are:

• “Alexander spent money on hotels” should read as “Alexander spent money on hotels, Roman spent money on hotels and his visa agency, Victor could not spend money, he did not have a card, but withdrew it to himself in parity as a job”.
• “Alexander’s 9K Mediterranean holiday” should be read as “… and visa lawyers for Roman for 6K.”
• “Alexander received 3200 from Gsok on his personal account” should read as “… and Roman received ~3000 in donations from RF on his personal card.”
• “In total, one way or another, Alexander drained around 27k EUR from this project during 2024” is just nonsense. During the whole life time, it was spent by funders (taking into account still personally deposited money): Victor - 12000, Roman - 15000, Alexander - 20000.

And so that I don’t have to get up twice. Roman, as a real tearer of the veil, deleted this file with expenses from the corporate disc (a copy was made), about what there is an epic correspondence in a private message to my question “why did you do it?”. Also like a real Dartan, Roman 2 times tolerated personal correspondence with me and once even deleted my account in the cart."

Can I get a tldr

I hope they name the fork “Orgasmic Maps”

Who’s this Roman guy and why is he being an asshole?

in the short to medium term, what other offline osm based options are available?