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Well, some things you certainly could, but this really opens up many more possibilities than is obvious at first glance. Another big thing is convenience, which is along the lines of what you said. Single click to open query editor, full autocomplete, star expansion, etc., easy 2-way communication between a db and Excel (instead of the clunky import/export procedures).

There are a ton of areas where this offers benefits, in larger or smaller ways. It can solve problems people don't even recognize.

I guess that's one problem you have to worry about now. Microsoft is bound to incorporate something like this into Excel sooner or later. :(

Better yet, Microsoft might offer to buy them out.

throwback https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H27rfr59RiE

Excel has Get & Transform, formerly known as Power Query, which can do similar things... if a custom query language [1] instead of SQL doesn't scare you away. I have used it a few times, it can definitely be useful.

[1]: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/mt270258.aspx

You can write SQL queries in Excel (in numerous different parts of the application), but no built in SQL autocomplete in Excel AFAIK.