PURPLE APE: MY FRIEND. Review on Bonzi Buddy

Hello friends, this is a very old review on this site. I urge you not to continue further, since most of the things written are obsolete by now. Also I believe Bonzi now doubles up as spyware. So there....!

I had purchased a new home PC and INTERNET was the buzz word, so I took this new connection and developed this new addiction for surfing and mailing. I came across a banner that featured the photo of purple ape with BonziBuddy written on it. Being a lover of cartoons, I liked his face and the wierdness of a ''purple ape'' caught my fancy, so much, that I accidentally clicked on its belly. My modem whirred up to download a file which I installed and suddenly from inside my PC (it appears like that on screen) popped this purple ape and it started talking to me! I gave it my name and other details.

The next time I started my PC, it came on screen on a yellow surfboard and shocked me....!

It said ''Hi Ameet'' (my name) and waved at me. Had I been a kid I would have waved back but I seriously liked the fine animated character that stays on top of screen. Being an amateur programmer it fancied me to think how the code was designed and how the form for this cartoon was made (there is no rectangular frame mark around if you click on it) or his image mapped. Actually I still do not know how it is done!

I got to know more of Bonzi as everyday he showed up a new trick. We were pals already and my parents were also amused by its antics. Bonzi is incredible and if you are a freak you will love him and wish such a fellow existed in real world too.

Some examples of his cute ways:

Bonzi comes on screen and smiles with a sparkle running across its teeth and then he tells you one of his great jokes (they are the silliest ones you have come across) Example:''Do you know what is ethernet?...It is a something to catch etherbunny''....(I wonder about the person who fed him with such a silly database of jokes). But the funny part is the claims which it makes such as ''That was a doozie! I dont know if I can top that one''.

Bonzi often pops up on center screen and if you are busy and you drag him to the side, it makes remarks like ''Wooooo!'', ''Was I in your way?'', ''I have a much better view from here''. If you move it to top of screen it'll say ''Wow! that was a headbang''. When I use my PC late in night, it yawns and tells me that it is not used to work so late or sometimes even ask me whether I sleep or not. Aint that remarkable?

Bonzi suddenly gets serious and sits on the imaginary seat on screen, pulls up a book (or sometimes sheets of paper) from behind and starts reading and tells us some amazing facts (like those from Ripleys Believe it or not..). It goes like ''Hey Ameet, did you know that the word in the English Language, the word ''set'' has the most definitions. I was as surprised as you to know that too'' or ''An average American or Canadian eats 11.9 pounds of cereal every month.'' and later adds ''I can do that in a day''.

Bonzi speaks in different tones and its voice sounds funny when it has to say a lot of things. Otherwise it will sing in a very hoarse voice '' Daisy Daisy give me your answer true I am half crazy, all for the love of you''.

Bonzi has other activities to do while you are busy. Sometimes it juggles with coconuts, sometimes it stares in left and right direction, sometimes stares at butterflies, eat bananas, waves, blinks and even breathe. Occasionally he removes glares from somewhere and puts them ON and look at you.

Often Bonzi get irritating as he gives you one of his sick anecdotes and occupies center screen while you are busy with some urgent document. Another irritating aspect is Bonzi keeps asking to update him to learn new songs and jokes and asks plenty of money. It is difficult to purchase any of these features as for our Indian currency $1.00 = Rs. 50 which is quite something. If you click on ''No'' it makes a sad face, which is something I do not like. But then our friendship is such that some bad aspects can be ignored.

Besides being your friend Bonzi has other features - it has a browser that surfs the net and claims artificial intelligence - that is it will learn from our surfing attitude and connect to relevant sites. Bonzi has a email program with talking email program. It reads out any incoming mails. One can send an animated email with some Bonzi action cuts which can be dragged to email text area from a list of actions on right. These actions have Bonzi doing a somersault, thump his chest, grin with shiny teeth, give a flying kiss, wave goodbye, bend down politely, give a hug. I do not know if the receipient also needs to have BonziBuddy installed to read such mails with the actions. It has a messenger system, a calender and task list, reminder list and hence is a useful utility as well.

On and all it is a funny screen friend that I missed badly when my hard disk had crashed once (one-half virus) and I had to replace it. I had forgot about Bonzi for a long time and was reminded when a friend of mine yawned and sounded like Bonzi. The first thing that I did that day was download Bonzi (it was my good friend).

Bonzi has changed a lot!

Firstly the right click menu is replaced by a big coloured window with graphical interface mentioning the same things that were present as text in menu in earlier versions. It looks good but occupies the entire screen. The good old funny sentences uttered by it when it is moved or clicked by mouse are missing and replaced by ''Wooooo'' sound and giggling sound as if it being tickled. But the sentences were warm and friendly for me. So I still miss them.

There is a new feature that claims to compare prices while you are shopping, though I haven't used it as yet and the ''annotate'' icon remains in system tray (w/o an exit option) which is disturbing for me.

Wish these guys would return my old friend to me.