Bonus tools predate AD. I remember downloading the bonus pack for Maya 4 or 5 the first time, so they've been around for at the very least 11 or 12 years.
They were an Alias thing actually, and for the longest time it was where features that were put together in a usable manner but not integrated, or not guaranteed to remain that way, would be put so they could be released separately and with a big "at your own risk" warning attached. Also it hosted things written by product specialists and embedded engineers. Soft had a similar thing with netview tools or other sideline stuff cropping up by the special projects guys, except they tended to cock it up even worse by turning it into products priced similarly to the (relatively expensive) special project expenditure, which was retarded because the whole point of mass commercializing a special project would be to offer it for an accessible price, not for five to six digits prices only to see them still require major clean-up and support to get them anywhere (see render management, crowds, face robot etc. all came into being that way). So, yeah, lets not get too enthusiastic with those rose tinted glasses, Avid sucked just as many miles of donkey penis as AD did when it came to these things.
