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1999 - 2004
BonziBuddy
“He just wanted to help. Mostly himself.”
- Birth year
- 1999
- Shutdown year
- 2004
- Lifespan
- 5 years
- Peak era
- 2000-2002
- Company
- Bonzi Software
- Category
- Software
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On Video
A BonziBuddy advert
Plays from YouTube when you press play. Views, length and date from YouTube, October 2026.
About This Video
- From:
- Spidermanboy13
- Added:
- November 23, 2015
- Length:
- 2:02
What Was It?
BonziBuddy was a free desktop assistant in the shape of a purple gorilla who walked across the screen, talked in a synthetic voice, told jokes and facts, sang songs and offered to help manage downloads.
Created by brothers Joe and Jay Bonzi and released in 1999, it was enormously appealing to anyone who had just met the internet, and especially to children on the family computer. It was also widely described as spyware and adware, changing browser settings and tracking users.
Bonzi Software faced lawsuits and fines, and BonziBuddy was discontinued in 2004. A cleaned-up final version stayed online briefly, and the Bonzi.com portal closed in 2008, leaving behind one of the internet's most memorable cautionary tales.
Things You Probably Forgot
- A purple gorilla walking across the desktop
- Jokes and 'facts' read in a robotic voice
- Asking it to search the web for you
- Discovering years later what it had been doing to the computer
The Story
- 1999 Joe and Jay Bonzi released BonziBuddy as free desktop software.
- 2004 Following lawsuits and fines, BonziBuddy was discontinued.
- 2008 The Bonzi.com web portal closed.
How It Died
BonziBuddy was discontinued in 2004 after Bonzi Software faced lawsuits and fines over its adware and data collection. The Bonzi.com website closed in late 2008.
What Replaced It?
Memories
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