I agree 100%. IB's core purpose is trade execution and related data (quotes), not charting. I can't imagine an active trader wouldn't already have a charting program. In my opinion, a tool much closer to IB's providing of trade data is Time & Sales. Why the relatively simple T&S tool wasn't provided long before much greater IB resources were devoted to charting, I'll never know. My best guess is that since every business is profit driven, maybe IB thought their free charting would bring in newbie traders?
Earlier in this thread was a request for Nasdaq Totalview. Once again this is much closer to IB's core purpose of providing trading data, than charting. I must have asked IB 30 times for T&S with no luck, so I haven't bothered asking for Totalview.