gj - agree 100%, but even though i thought the functionality very basic (in terms of execution facilities) and definitely geared towards the buy side (not that many people here could call them selves sell side anyway!!), its still a pile of crap.
also - i believe you have to use their 3rd party clearing/brokerage facilities (bank of ny i think). again, thats more restrictive to how an operation wants to run their business.
sure the analytics are good - but id rather go to reuters just out of principal.
i just dont get why people would want bbg in the first place. from my understanding, its a totally closed system, and if you wanted to integrate it with other software, youre screwed. thomson on the other hand let you integrate anything with anything. dont know about reuters, but i would have thought its possible as thats what people want.
what do i do if i want to build a model based on analytics? i can either go to bbg and buy their model, based on their feeds, analysis & news, OR i can buy xyz data feed, pqr news wire, abc analysis, and build the model myself, or buy one off the shelf from reuters/someone else etc. i end up with something totally unique to me, not something 50% of the street is using - reason why markets just zoom off these days without any trend - everyones on the same models - corporate mentality of buying what everyone else buys and what they are familiar with cos they dont want to take any risk and seem out of the corporate fold.
rant over.
sorry, i just hate bloomberg: their 18 year old reps, their closed technology, their silly office/nightclub, their founder who sacked someone for playing pc chess on his lunch hour, etc. the only thing good about that company was the receptionist when i went in there last - but she was probably a temp!