1) I agree, which is I why I did end my comment that I think it would be nice to see an optional install offered for offline usage. 4) I don't think they are u

1) I agree, which is I why I did end my comment that I think it would be nice to see an optional install offered for offline usage. 4) I don't think they are using Docker, but they are using containers. (They mention running directly on top of Hyper-V so they might not even be considered by some developers as containers in the Docker sense but closer to "mini" VMs.) The container they are using for security/sandboxing reasons. The Excel team likely still has nightmares from the worst years of VBA macro malware and this Python system seems built specifically to sandbox all the running Python code to an execution environment (container/VM) that is easy to refresh/rebuild/recycle/tear-down. I agree that Python on Windows is usually great and most of the Python ecosystem is great at cross-platform support, but I also understand why Excel would want to sandbox any Python it runs to containers that are isolated from the host machine/user and it can easily reboot.