Remember the whole "computer as bicycle for the mind" thing? That didn't happen, the world went in the opposite direction. Software like Excel are the last surviving remnants of the idea of empowering end users to improve their work and lives.
> Software like Excel are the last surviving remnants of the idea of empowering end users to improve their work and lives.
I agree. I love Excel. But this attitude only makes sense if we assume one can only fix easy-to-make mistakes by dumbing the software down, which is not true.
I had a different interpretation of the video you linked. It seems to me even a backwards bicycle is perfectly drivable as long as you adjust you mental model.
In that sense the excel UI doesn't make sense only for those not used to it. Which might be a nice analogy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFzDaBzBlL0
It's not all on the users.