The year is 1999 and the internet has just been introduced to BonziBuddy.
*Bonzi speaks in text-to-speech sound*
Before the YouTube videos, endless memes, and unscrupulous reputation, it was just a
simple freeware program.
One that promised to help users search the web, keep an itinerary, and even tell jokes
and sing songs to keep you company.
But by 2004 the jig was up, and people wanted nothing to do with BonziBuddy, with its deserved
reputation as being a manipulative piece of adware that spied on its users.
And yet, even after the public backlash and legal trouble that sank the company, the people
behind BonziBuddy still have an online ad business running to this day.
What happened?
This is LGR Tech Tales, where we take a look at noteworthy stories of technological inspiration,
failure, and everything in-between.
This episode tells the tale of the Internet’s favorite hated downloadable assistant, BonziBuddy.
Our story begins in 1997 with the release of Microsoft Agent.
This was a software package distributed through Windows 98 and the Microsoft website that
allowed for the use of interactive, animated characters.
The idea was to make computer interactions easier and more natural by using a conversational
system instead of the traditional Windows menus and desktop metaphor interfaces.
While it began as an offshoot of the actors in Microsoft Bob, the high-profile failure
of a Windows shell released two years prior, Agent was a separate product entirely.
Each of the four agent characters could communicate with users through interactive speech bubbles,
voice recognition, and text-to-speech functionality.
The whole idea was to do what Microsoft Bob failed at and bring virtual assistants to
computing, and these were included in everything from Microsoft Office 97 in the form of Clippit
the paperclip, aka Clippy, to Windows XP’s search function in the form of Rover the dog.
But while Microsoft intended for these freely-released agents to be used by everyone to improve the
computing experience, others saw the potential for more profit.
Enter the Bonzi family, and specifically Joe and Jay Bonzi, who started their own company
in 1993, Bonzi Software.
Since 1995 they’d been selling a $30 piece of software called Voice E-Mail.
Ambitiously declaring itself “the next wave in online communications,” Voice E-Mail
was a browser software plug-in that let you record and compress short sound recordings
and send them through your email provider of choice.
It was successful enough to support the product with multiple updates for years, but eventually
standalone e-mail clients like Eudora started including similar functionality as well, taking
away some of Voice E-Mail’s thunder.
It was around this time that Microsoft’s Agents started gaining traction with the release
of Windows 98 and Office 97, as well as a sizable number of websites and independent
programs built using the technology.
One of these programs was Bonzi Buddy, first released by Bonzi Software
in the latter half of 1999.
And really, it wasn’t anything particularly special.
For one thing, there were tons of these Agent-based “desktop assistant” applications flooding
the internet around the same time, several of which went a step further by using their
own custom characters.
By contrast, Bonzi Buddy didn’t even include its own artwork.
It simply took the files from the existing Peedy the Parrot package from Microsoft and
called it a day.
*Peedy Buddy speaks in text-to-speech sound*
But Bonzi Buddy soon set itself apart.
In May of the year 2000 the next iteration of Bonzi Buddy was released and featured the
titular Bonzi, a pre-rendered 3D purple Gorilla sporting a globe,
sunglasses, and a goofy grin.
While it did similar things to other Agent applications, like keeping you informed of
your schedule, the latest news, and popular websites, Bonzi Buddy was free.
Although, Bonzi Software stated on its website that it was for a limited time only and it
would normally cost $40.
That, however, was misleading at best.
For the entirety of its existence, Bonzi Buddy remained free with that threat of a $40 version
looming overhead lest you question its value.
But the bigger thing that made Bonzi Buddy so appealing for a time was the fact that
it had a personality of sorts, along with a text-to-speech engine from the Microsoft
Speech API 4.0 package...
*Bonzi "sings" Hello Ma Baby in text-to-speech voice*
This was somewhat useful as a way to have the text of websites and emails read back
to you, but it was also a source of easy and free amusement
for those with less mature inclinations.
However, as enjoyable as Bonzi Buddy could be, especially to young children, there was
a dark cloud behind the silverback lining.
The first sign of shadiness came whenever you set up Bonzi Buddy for the first time
and it required you to enter lots of personal information to “register” the product.
It may have seemed innocent enough, after all Bonzi Buddy would use some of this information
to react to you personally.
But accusations of this being Spyware arose when it was found that this information was
being transmitted over the internet in potentially problematic ways.
The next sign of something foul were the questionable pop-ups that
occurred when Bonzi Buddy was running.
Specifically, these pop-ups looked just like Windows system error messages, and when clicked
they would refer you to a program called InternetAlert.
A program that, uncoincidentally, was also made by Bonzi Software and cost $49 a year
to use and make the fake pop-ups go away.
Bonzi Software disputed these claims as being overblown, stating “all we are trying to
do is grab your attention the same way the employee outside Wal-Mart does by telling
you what’s on sale as you walk in.”
But the accusations continued, including an article in Consumer Reports on October 21,
2002, which labeled Bonzi Buddy as spyware, and specifically a “Backdoor Santa” due
to how it “serves adds [sic], frequently prompts users for personal information, tracks
all usage, deposits icons in the startup folder, system tray and on the desktop, repeatedly
resets the browser homepage to BONZI.COM without asking permission, and leaves components behind
after users use its uninstall program.”
There were also accusations of Bonzi Buddy being a Trojan Horse in some situations, due
to its backdoor downloading of additional unwanted software, such as the infamous Clicktilluwin
spyware that infected the Windows system folder and registry.
Then came the legal trouble.
In late 2002, a class-action lawsuit was brought against Bonzi Software for its quote, "diabolical
scheme” of displaying 300 million deceptive pop-ups in Bonzi Buddy.
This was settled the following year, and while Bonzi Software paid $170,000 in legal fees,
they didn’t agree to remove the pop-ups completely.
Instead they would make them slightly “less deceptive” by doing things like placing
the word “advertisement” on top of them and
making the “OK” button say “more info.”
But the real trouble was just over the horizon, when in early 2004 the United States Federal
Trade Commission found Bonzi Software guilty of violating COPPA: the Children's Online
Privacy Protection Act.
Due to the way Bonzi Buddy required users to enter their personal information, and how
many of those users were under the age of 13, they were deemed to have knowingly collected
personal information from children without first obtaining parental consent.
This resulted in a fine of $75,000 for Bonzi Software, and was another huge stain on the
product of Bonzi Buddy.
Combined with the growing accusations of it being malware and appearing as a threat to
virus scanner and spyware removal programs, the writing was on the wall for Bonzi Buddy.
By August of 2005 the Bonzi Buddy website and servers were shut down, and Joe and Jay
Bonzi had quietly moved onto other ventures.
Although they didn’t go very far.
In fact, they continued doing business at the same location as Bonzi Software had: 3000
Broad Street, Suite 115 in San Luis Obispo, California.
And the new business they started there, 2KDirect Incorporated, continues
to operate to this day.
Their main service is iPromote, which is -- surprise surprise -- an advertising platform that specializes
in targeted online ads.
Their AdXpert Engine acts as a middleman to sell and show ads on services like Facebook,
LinkedIn, Amazon, WebMD, and YouTube.
And amusingly, one of their biggest current clients is Microsoft, whose Agent software
helped kick off this whole Bonzi Buddy trip in the first place, and now relies on the
same guys to push ads through Skype.
Which brings us full circle with Bonzi Buddy.
A program that started off as an asset flip, turned into a viral hit, earned such a bad
reputation that it was canceled, and then oddly enough became a viral hit once again
about a decade later.
Bonzi Buddy may not have expanded as big as other memes, but it’s certainly had a surreal
time in various subculture spotlights over the past several years.
There are even fansites that recreate the original Bonzi Software page and provide downloads
to the software once again.
And because the ad servers shut down when Bonzi Software did, Bonzi Buddy itself doesn’t
really connect to anything at this point and is now considered as benign spyware at worst.
But if you want to experience it again or for the first time by downloading it, do yourself
a favor and use a virtual machine.
Some pieces of software truly are better off left in the past, or at least a protected,
virtualized version of it.
And yeah I do find it strange to consider that theoretically my channel may have profited
in an indirect way as a result of iPromote’s ad system.
Oh well I'm not gonna start saying “sponsored by Bonzi Buddy’s corpse” or anything,
so I hope you enjoyed this video and thank you very much for watching.