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Excel enabled non-programmers to create basically any app as long as they are fine with a cell-based UI. Same with Access and CRUD apps. I know people love to dunk on M$ here, and for good reasons too, but these two programs are probably responsible for a decent chunk or PoC/v1 projects worldwide.
I use Excel for POCs quite a lot. Sometimes it's easier to generate a CSV file, load it up in Excel and test the maths there instead of writing code to do that. And you can visualise the data as well, so your tens of thousands of rows are easier to digest and understand if what you're doing is sound or not. It takes a lot more time to do decent data visualisation in JS or Python.
MS did a little revolution in WYSIWYG editors. Most persons can't solve a basic tech problem but are proficient in using them. If there's any hate to them it's for their weird design decisions, being a monopolist and people using their programs for the things they were never prepared for. I still love MS '03 Office. It lacks some functions and can render pages differently than never editions due to converting formats, but it's a solid boring workhorse with everything at the end of your fingers.