Question for you Bloomberg users. Are you running Bloomberg on your main desktop or on a seperate PC? If it's on your desktop, has it caused any problems with your other software programs? Many thanks in advance.
StLouis, Bloomberg is a turnkey solution - ie: comes pre-installed/configured on a platform they supply (and maintain), including their cute colour-coded keyboard. The platform is very stable. You can install your own apps on their box if required. I don't believe what you are suggesting is possible.
Bloomberg can be run on any Windows platform, but it is so damn useful most get the dedicated Bloomberg dual screen platform. If your not going to use BB enough to put it on a dedicated machine, it likely doesn't make sense to subscribe in the first place.
Bloomberg runs well on Windows XP. It is not uncommon to run Bloomberg on a company/personal PC. A lot of users buy their own screens, since those supplied by Bloomberg currently are up to 17inch only. Haven't noticed any software conflicts yet, except that the Excel addin for Bloomberg sometimes can cause excel to terminate. Bloomberg support does well responding to such issues.
Ok. Would any of you Bloomberg users care to share the advantages of using their service over run-of-the-mill retail types like esignal or dtn? What do you get out of it that the others don't even offer? (I'm especially interested in international equities) How about cost for a 1 user setup? Do they do that? Thanks!
risktaker, You couldn't compare Bloomberg to eSignal or DTN. It is an institutional terminal - they provide acess to every scrap of financial data, news etc imaginable in real-time. A single terminal will run you about $1.75K pm. Price goes up to $2K at the end of the year I believe.
OOOhhhhh 1.75K, that's as mystical as their mayoral candidate. Guess its also about 0.00175M/mos, which is pretty huge money, and shouldn't be approached by those without the "Know." Bloomberg doesn't have to be "turn-key" to answer your question, and can run on your own platform. If you get their terminal they will charge you for it, so better to provide your own. Can't answer the original question as to stability when mixin' it up with other windows apps, but it has lots of info especially for fixed income guys. Basically the thing is a technical dinosaur with good underlying data.
risktaker, Yes - they have a facility called TradeBook for executing through. I believe it is ok for equities and fx but still embryonic for futures (which is what I trade). Have a look here http://www.bloombergtradebook.com/index_fl.htm