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Bloomberg Terminals in repose [1]

['Rob Beschizza']

Date: 2026-09-30  

Back in the day, when writing on the Internet was new and cool, I wanted a keyboard that had specialized keys for useful tasks such as multiple copy/paste, blockquote wrapping, and the all-important Curators' Code symbols. In essence, a Bloomberg Terminal for blogging. A Blogberg terminal! For IEEE Spectrum, Allison Marsh offers A Brief History of the Bloomberg Terminal and how it first empowered traders and analysts in the 1980s.

The Bloomberg Terminal's keyboard was designed with traders and analysts in mind. The function keys were color-coded and given labels specifying their usage, so that users didn't have to remember. The original keyboard, affectionately referred to as "the Chiclet," was hand assembled. A cable ran from the keyboard to the Bloomberg Controller, which had a dedicated phone line to connect to a local hub. The internet wasn't commercially available yet, so the company basically built its own closed network, with centralized computers that maintained large databases and performed most of the calculations. Commands entered on the keyboard sent a request to the hub, which processed the information and sent back the result.

The model seen above is great because it has such an astounding smorgasbord of features, but is among the worst keyboards ever: even worse than earlier chiclet models. They switched to a more normal keyboard design in 1994 as standards converged toward the Internet; they peaked in handsomeness in the mid-2000s. A subscription is "upwards of $32,000" a year now; yes, you get the keyboard for free.

Although the shift away from dedicated terminals was a logical response to the rise of the internet and publicly available market data, it altered the material culture of financial work. For nearly two decades, Bloomberg Terminals commanded an aura of power and financial prowess. They were emblems of market mastery, with a brand that was distinct from other office computers. With Open Bloomberg, users were no longer tied to a single desk or a fixed set of monitors.

To this day, I'm not sure I've ever wanted a laptop more than the later Grid Compasses, which came in a Bloomberg variant.

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