[SamAdams76]

The guy had everything going for him. Just goes to shot that money and success does not necessarily translate into happiness. (If in fact, this is really a suicide.)

[Poohbah]

I would not be surprised either way. Money does not make one happy. Maybe he got dumped by a significant other. Or maybe someone figured that if you shoot enough geeks, P2P will go away.

[SamAdams76]

I meant to say "just goes to show" not "just goes to shot."

Freudian slip?

[weikel]

I wouldn't put it past someone in the RIAA or MIAA to have him whacked.

[PallMal]

I agree with your sentiments about money and success not translating into happiness.

Reminds me of another pioneer in the computer industry, Phil Katz (The "PK" in "PKZIP"). He was found dead a couple of years ago at age 39. The difference is that for several years, PK was leading a life of self-destruction which was obvious to those closest to him.

[Timesink]

The guy had everything going for him. Just goes to shot that money and success does not necessarily translate into happiness.

He certainly had success, in that he made a big name for himself in his field, but did he really have a lot of money? Gnutella is just an open-source transfer protocol/engine. There's no Gnutella, Inc. I'm sure he was making a very nice salary at Sun, but he was hardly building $10 million houses and pricing yachts in his spare time. Even worse, Sun bought his little InfraSearch company with stock, not cash, and they never disclosed how much stock. However many shares it was, though, it's only worth about 1/4 of what it was when he got it.

Maybe that's got something to do with it. Perhaps he got in over his head financially when his portfolio started to meltdown? It certainly wasn't the RIAA putting a hit out on him. That's just silly.

[GingisK]

Just goes to shot that money and success does not necessarily translate into happiness.

Oh, yes, I wish I could be Richard Corey!