SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Gene Kan, one of the key programmers behind the popular file-sharing technology known as Gnutella ( news - web sites), has died in an apparent suicide, officials said on Tuesday. He was 25.

San Mateo County Coroner spokeswoman Sue Turner said Kan was found last week at his northern California home.

"The cause of death was a perforating gunshot wound to the head," Tuner said. "It was a suicide."

A spokeswoman for Kan said he died on June 29 and was cremated on July 5. Further details were being withheld at the request of the family.

Kan helped develop an open source version of the Gnutella protocol, which marked a further step in popularizing the peer-to-peer file-sharing revolution pioneered by the Napster ( news - web sites) song-swapping service.

The Gnutella computer code emerged as Napster's legal problems mounted and its millions of users were looking for new ways to swap songs for free on the Internet.

Kan and a few fellow programmers did not create Gnutella, but tweaked the Gnutella protocol so it could be replicated by other programmers around the world, unleashing massive music, video and software file-sharing.

Kan and his group brought Gnutella into the limelight after an early version of the program was released briefly on the Web by an employee of America Online.

Kan, who came to be known as the unofficial spokesman for Gnutella, often said the technology differed from Napster because it had no company to sue or central computer to shut down.

Unlike Napster, which allowed people to trade songs through centralized computer servers, Gnutella simply transfers files from one personal computer to another -- making it much more difficult to monitor.

In June 2000, Kan started California-based InfraSearch Inc., a peer-to-peer search engine technology company, that eventually attracted high-profile investors such as Netscape alumni Marc Andreessen and Mike Homer.

InfraSearch was acquired by Sun Microsystems in March 2001. Kan also joined the company at that time to work on Sun's peer-to-peer project known as Project JXTA. More recently he had been working on advanced development projects around distributed computing.

"Gene contributed much to the industry, specifically in the peer-to-peer space," Sun said in the statement. "Gene brought new ideas to the organization and stretched our thinking. Gene was a trusted friend and colleague, and we will miss him greatly."

Film done right cinemas may very well profit from a heightened awareness situation where file sharers view on P.C then check out a decent operation.

Young people are buying the tickets today. These are the people that have, understand, and use the latest home entertainment stuff. They have video games, DVD, satellite TV, and they are the ones using their computers to download and watch DivX etc movies.

Their parents don't generally have a clue about most of that stuff, and are the ones who haven't seen a film at a cinema in 3 years. Hmmmm...

New media don't necessarily displace old media. A film presented in a cinema, unless it's a very poor presentation, has much more impact than via VHS or DVD (in 99% of home settings). Theres a social component to the cinema that appeals to many of us.
The cinema is the cheapest public entertainment available, excepting walking up and down main street. Live theatre is terrifically expensive. Sporting events too.
I get my ten buck's worth when I go to a movie, I don't think I am cheated.

IF THEY LIKE IT..> THEY GO TO THE MOVIE..

They all know who has the best presentation and that is where they go. They are cinema freaks. Movie after movie. They have no life. You know, like projectionists.

They do in fact and quite often use the technology to research if they want to smack down eight bucks plus popcorn and soda to go see a movie or not.

If the studios keep making decent films like they are now, and if theaters can keep showing films PROPERLY, then cinema will not die.

Remember the averted actors strike of a few years ago? What happened with that is this... the studios fearing that a strike would be long lasting started greenlighting EVERYTHING under the sun, so that they would have product for the long haul. The strike was averted, and afterwards, the studios could only afford to greenlight films they felt would make a profit. Movies coming out now and for the next year or so, are part of that aftershock. Some were already in production however, such as the Matrix, Lord of the Rings, possible a couple of others. But most are post strike aversion.

At least for a while, the money will be rolling in.