There is an interesting looking competitor in this space that is built with Python integration from the ground up.<p><a href="https://www.neptyne.com/">https://www.neptyne.com/</a><p>I haven't tried it yet, nor am I affiliated with Neptyne, but it looks intriguing.
Reading the headline, I initially thought that Microsoft bought the company behind XLWings [1], which also enables you to use Excel directly within Excel, even locally. Not affiliated in any kind to that company, just used it in the past.<p>[1] <a href="https://www.xlwings.org/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.xlwings.org/</a>