It is not so much a matter of "BearShare leaving" as it is a matter of BearShare (AND LimeWire) users departing their beloved clients if or because they have had enough of the nonsense.
And there is a lot of nonsense going on now with both of them.
The hits and downloads reflect far more the habits of those just entering the p2p world and also the 'placement' of the various clients in search engine results.
When is the last time any of you did a most simple Yahoo search for:
.mp3 - file sharing - p2p - whatever?
Normal people do NOT search for Gnutella clients -
They search for something simple in the beginning and they end with the 'big boys' clients.
The number of downloads do NOT reflect the quality of the client.
They only reflect the 'quality' of the user and the
strength of the client.
As is almost always true, "There are lies, there are damned lies and then there are statistics!"
Unfortunately today, with the changes in the perception of marketing values within the internet there are people who need to find other less user-amenable forms of financial support.
This means that people who are unskilled in the arts of business operations are becoming a little desperate and doing
to their loyal 'customers'.