Viewpoint Media Player (VMP) is a
browser graphics rendering plug-in originally produced by
Viewpoint Corporation
MetaCreations was a computer software company that was best known for its graphics applications, notably Ray Dream Studio/Infini D, Fractal Design Painter, Bryce, and Kai's Power Tools.
History
MetaCreations was founded in 1997 by the mer ...
, a subsidiary of the marketing company Digital Generation, Inc. (). A predecessor of VMP is the browser plug-in
MetaStream from the once acquired company
MetaCreations.
Description
Viewpoint Media Player is a web browser plug-in that enables users to view 3D content and other
rich media
Interactive media normally refers to products and services on digital computer-based systems which respond to the user's actions by presenting content such as text, moving image, animation, video and audio. Since its early conception, various f ...
, such as
Flash
Flash, flashes, or FLASH may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
Fictional aliases
* Flash (DC Comics character), several DC Comics superheroes with super speed:
** Flash (Barry Allen)
** Flash (Jay Garrick)
** Wally West, the first Kid ...
content and video, on the Internet. Viewpoint Media Player has been included with various products from AOL, including
AOL Instant Messenger (AIM).
Some companies, ranging from online retailers to auto manufacturers, have used Viewpoint Media Player as the graphics platform for interactive 3D tours of their products. The player was used to power the Scion configurator on the Build Your Scion website, which won the People's Voice Webby Award in the Automotive category in 2006.
Adware concerns
Viewpoint Media Player is sometimes marked as
adware
Adware, often called advertising-supported software by its developers, is software that generates revenue for its developer by automatically generating online advertisements in the user interface of the software or on a screen presented to the ...
due to the program commonly being installed without user notification or intervention. If Viewpoint is removed whilst a program requiring it remains installed, it again re-installs silently without notifying the user. The Viewpoint Media Player itself does not directly collect user identifiable information, unless the user enters it. The license agreement states that the software collects information about the user's interactions with advertisements, and also the browser and operating system in use. The privacy policy also states that the plug-in collects some browsing history by way of referrer information. This information is collected by Viewpoint along with a unique identifying code.
Browser hijacking
Allowing Viewpoint Media Player to update installs the Viewpoint Manager program, which runs in the background unless disabled. When installed, this application attempts to install the Viewpoint Toolbar in Internet Explorer every day, overriding any previously installed toolbars. The install is shown as a recommended browser "upgrade" from Viewpoint. The update and original Terms of Service do not indicate that a browser toolbar will be installed.
References
{{Reflist, 1
External links
Viewpoint Media Player Company Page
Media players