Microsoft Releases and Patents ‘Python In Excel’

Longtime Slashdot reader theodp writes:

Python in Excel is now generally available for Windows users of Microsoft 365 Business and Enterprise,” Microsoft announced in a Monday blog post. “Last August, in partnership with Anaconda, we introduced an exciting new addition to Excel by integrating Python, making it possible to seamlessly combine Python and Excel analytics within the same workbook, no setup required. Since then, we’ve brought the power of popular Python analytics libraries such as pandas, Matplotlib, and NLTK to countless Excel users.” Microsoft also announced the public preview of Copilot in Excel with Python, which will take users’ natural language requests for analysis and automatically generate, explain, and insert Python code into Excel spreadsheets.

While drawing criticism for limiting Python execution to locked-down Azure cloud containers, Python in Excel has also earned accolades from the likes of Python creator Guido van Rossum, now a Microsoft Distinguished Engineer, as well as Pandas creator Wes McKinney.

Left unmentioned in Monday’s announcement is that Microsoft managed to convince the USPTO to issue it a patent in July 2024 on the Enhanced Integration of Spreadsheets With External Environments (alt. source), which Microsoft explains covers the “implementation of enhanced integrations of native spreadsheet environments with external resources such as-but not limited to-Python.” All of which may come as a surprise to software vendors and individuals that were integrating Excel and external programming environments years before Microsoft filed its patent application in September 2022.