Do not let the user interface fool you. Bloomberg is about as "advanced" a trading information system as you can get. Its main competitor, Reuters, is also no b

Do not let the user interface fool you. Bloomberg is about as "advanced" a trading information system as you can get. Its main competitor, Reuters, is also no better looking and often used simultaneously. Together they sew up most of the trading information market, 60%+. A trader will also have a third application/screen for trade input into their firms systems. Bloomberg terminal was designed for non-computer users back in the 80s and the whole physical layout, especially the Bloomberg keyboard, is a part of the design. The emphasis is on speed of access by keyboard, consistency, information liveliness and responsiveness. It also means, that Bloomberg can iterate to add functionality to the core of the application (which is not the UI itself), a hell of a lot faster than new competitors.