Michael Bloomberg might have a point, but he really isn't in a strong position to complain about shitty overpriced software. Glass houses and all that.
The role of Bloomberg the businessman is independent of Bloomberg the public servant. He can sell overpriced software as a businessman all he wants, but once he becomes mayor his responsibility is as a steward of the public's money and to combat ridiculous overpriced projects such as mentioned here.
I don't think his complaint is so much about shitty software as it is about criminal activities relating to its creation. Carl Bell (the executive in charge of the project) plead guilty to approving charges from a contractor for years when he wasn't even on the project. I think Bloomberg has a strong argument that there was fraud going on here.
Just so people can put this in perspective, a Bloomberg terminal license costs approx $1750 per month, with a two year contract. The software basically gives users a fairly raw interface to financial data, analytics and an email/IM system.
In a sales call, the Bloomberg sales reps will demonstrate endless functionality of the terminal : there's a huge amount there. The dirty secret is, though, that most people use only 4 different functions (different people, different functions, of course). The big switching cost is that the email/IM is entirely proprietary : Everyone has to have a BBg terminal, because everyone else has one.
The software is probably as well written as you would expect from a company in a monopoly position. One thing in their favour : If they fundamentally changed the way the 'MSG' button worked, 50% of their users would complain.
Also, it should be mentioned that it has over 30k functions. Some of these are so obscure, that if you happen to only use one of these functions, the high monthly cost could be justified.
You're essentially correct on all points but clients tend to use many more than 4 functions though significantly less than the total number.
And with regards to IM and email, it should be noted that any user of a Bloomberg terminal can IM any other user anywhere in the world (there's no 'friending' or anything). Many, many trades are conducted over IM or 'IB' as it's called.
The most accurate analog I can think of to the Bloombeg terminal is Emacs. It has everything and the kitchen sink (News, dining suggestions, email, IM, sports updates, etc.) and clients are extremely particular about functionality. I have a cousin that's been a subscriber since 1997.
And with regards to code quality, I'm not sure how much I'm permitted to say, but the first Bloomberg terminal was released in the 1980s (this was before SQL existed). Also they maintain the largest private network in the world (they run a line to every terminal)... so all the things that go with that.
> The most accurate analog I can think of to the Bloombeg terminal is Emacs. It has everything and the kitchen sink (News, dining suggestions, email, IM, sports updates, etc.) and clients are extremely particular about functionality.
Of course, Emacs is free. Do you think Bloomberg is susceptible to competition from a much lower-priced and much leaner startup?
The point of a bloomberg terminal is not the software, it is the data. The monthly fee is for a one-user license of the data that they provide, and it is quite vast.
