AirTable looks kinda like a spreadsheet, and it's a MS Access clone at heart. Not terribly programmable, though it does look pretty usable.

I think "traditional" databases will fail to reach a general audience (or rather, much expand the definition of "technical audience") because SQL is not really easier than Python etc. Maybe the problem is environments and not languages, though.

Personally I think the relational model is just a little too limited. It's possible to build abstractions in SQL (views, temporary tables, `WITH` etc) but it's hard. And repetitive.

Basically I think functions and variables are great little building blocks, so I'm pushing them. And then, having not backed myself into a corner with by having chosen a limited computational model, I'll make relational stuff easy too :-).