title: How can I create multiple application instances in pythoncom?
body: <p>I am attempting to use python to start up multiple processes using COM to asynchronously process several files (using concurrent.futures), but I can only manage to start up one process at a time.</p>
  
  <p>Here's an easy way to see the problem using Excel:</p>
  
  <pre><code>import win32com.client
  
  # start first instance
  exl1 = win32com.client.Dispatch("Excel.Application")
  
  # start second instance
  exl2 = win32com.client.Dispatch("Excel.Application")
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>The second Excel process doesn't start up (I only see the process id of the first instance). Is there any way to accomplish this?</p>