What a shame. I only hope that the his spirit lives on.

Kan, 25, rose to prominence online as one of the most articulate spokesmen for the Gnutella file-swapping community at the height of the Internet’s love affair with peer-to-peer software.

Kan died June 29. He was cremated Friday, according to friends. Details of his death were not released by his family.

I believe that Gnutella is critical to the future free exchange of information. Gene Kan will go down as one of the great pioneers of our age.