I'm also curious about this. If you look at the number of users, number of edits, etc then openstreetmap looks like it is on a rocket trajectory.

More and more corporations are putting significant amounts of energy towards improving openstreetmap as well, drastically improving overall quality.

It's scary to think such a great project could have perished at some point in its infancy. It's not perfect yet but it's an incredible resource and alternative to GMaps.