&gt; If the API version he&#x27;s using doesn&#x27;t stop working there is no real reason why it couldn&#x27;t just continue to work for a very long time<p>That&#x27;s sort of insane.  We aren&#x27;t talking about a static library here.  Of all the public web APIs available in 2007, how many are still alive?  Maybe 5%?  Less?  Google Maps is one of a tiny, tiny set of still-relevant products that still support their decade-old interface.<p>And don&#x27;t get me wrong: it&#x27;s a great product.  But getting back to the discussion, it&#x27;s a <i>proprietary</i> product, and anything built on it needs to be aware of the inherent business risk if, some time over the next decade, the API provider decides to terminate support.  They did.