![bonzi buddy icon bonzi buddy icon](https://pics.me.me/thumb_bonzi-buddy-is-locating-your-location-id-watch-out-70493101.png)
Adware or spyware Ī number of sources identify BonziBuddy as spyware, a claim the company disputes. Another article found in 2006 on the BusinessWeek website described BonziBuddy as "the unbelievably annoying spyware trojan horse". One of the last newspapers to write about BonziBuddy while it was still in distribution described it as spyware and a "scourge of the Internet".
![bonzi buddy icon bonzi buddy icon](https://pics.awwmemes.com/a-true-relic-of-the-internet-bonzi-buddy-66418721.png)
One reader was quoted as criticizing the program because it "kept popping up and obscuring things you needed to see". In April 2007, PC World readers voted BonziBuddy the 6th on a list named: "The 20 Most Annoying Tech Products". Bonzi's website remained open after the discontinuation of BonziBuddy, but was later discontinued at the end of 2008.
#BONZI BUDDY ICON SOFTWARE#
BonziBuddy was discontinued in 2004 after the company behind it faced lawsuits regarding the software and was ordered to pay fines. Some versions of the software were described as spyware. It is often referred to in some software as Adult Male #2. The voice was called Sydney and taken from an old Lernout & HauspieMicrosoft Speech API 4.0 package. The program also used a text to speech voice to interact with the user. Later versions of BonziBuddy featured its own character: Bonzi, the purple gorilla. The software used Microsoft Agent technology similar to Office Assistant, and originally sported Peedy, a green parrot and one of the characters available with Microsoft Agent. Upon a user's choice the on-screen agent would share jokes and facts, manage downloading using its download manager, sing songs and other functions. Black BonziBuddy, stylized as BonziBUDDY, was a desktop assistant made by Joe and Jay Bonzi.