Unfortunately or not, in some fields conda is the only sane choice because it can manage non-Python binary dependencies that Python packages may depend on. Some

Unfortunately or not, in some fields conda is the only sane choice because it can manage non-Python binary dependencies that Python packages may depend on. Some of those dependencies may be huge C libraries that are a pain to build, like HDF5, so if you're not using conda you'll be relying on your OS's package manager to serve your particular venv's needs - we all know what usually happens next.