Wikipedia
BonziBuddy, stylized as BonziBUDDY, is an adware program distributed by Bonzi Software between 1999 and 2004. The software provides an on-screen software agent designed to help users surf the Internet by using Microsoft Agent technology. In 1999, the software used a green parrot called "Peedy" licensed from Microsoft, and in later versions, a purple gorilla named Bonzi. 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.
The software uses Microsoft Agent technology similar to Office Assistant, and originally sports Peedy, a green parrot and one of the characters available with Microsoft Agent. Later versions of BonziBuddy feature its own character: Bonzi, the purple gorilla. The program also used a text to speech voice to interact with the user. The voice was called Sydney and taken from an old Lernout & Hauspie Microsoft Speech API 4.0 package. It is often referred to in some software as Adult Male #2.
Some versions of the software were described as spyware. Bonzi's homepage remained open after the discontinuation of BonziBuddy and the website disappeared at the end of 2008.