Why is MT4 so popular?

As a platform, why is MetaTrader the king of the hill around here? In a nutshell, what are the main reasons FF posters seem to value MT4 so much more than some of the best proprietary platforms?

Is it primarily the EAs, which I'm not interested in, or are there other important reasons?

Thanks
-Tim

MT4 is Free and that is the main reason I use it. Its pretty easy to operate and create custom indicators and EA's Ive paid for a few services and came back to MT4 since its free and it feels like home now.

-- Integrated, easy-to-use charting and trading platform
-- Comprehensive underlying programming language
-- Free historical data, and strategy tester
-- Free live price feed
-- Lots of third party developed indicators and EAs are available
-- MT4 is available via many brokers - if you want to change broker, you don't need to learn another package
-- Demo accounts are easy to set up, and are allowed by most MT4 brokers
-- Oh, did I mention that all of this is FREE?

Sorry, the above sounds like a sales pitch, LOL. But the fact is that MT4 allows anybody, who doesn't want to outlay cash while they're learning the ropes, an 'instant' and true-to-life introduction to the mechanics (and vagaries!) of forex trading. You can continue to experiment, and refine your strategies, for as long as you like, free of charge. Hence - for better or worse - MT4's popularity.

I guess it's also a bit like Microsoft - to have access to the widest number of third party products, there's a compelling argument to run with the industry standard. MT4 is very widely used.