Creator of free Adobe clones unveils open-source Microsoft Office Excel, PowerPoint, and Word replications

Brandon Thomas, creator of ArtCraft, a collection of open-source creative tools designed to emulate Adobe software free of charge, has unveiled Microsoft Office equivalents: GridCraft for Excel, DeckCraft for PowerPoint, and WordCraft for Word. These applications were developed using Claude. Following our previous report on ArtCraft, we have confirmed that u/ai_art_is_art is indeed Brandon Thomas, a highly skilled software engineer with 15 years of experience.

After the popularity of ArtCraft, various criticisms emerged regarding the quality of the software and the use of AI. Brandon addressed these concerns on his X account, stating that he is proficient in coding and that AI models allow him to perform four times better than Google's revenue per employee. Microsoft is often criticized for its business practices, similar to Adobe, where software once purchased once now requires a subscription for various tools, many of which have overlapping features and uses, leading to wasted subscription value.

Thomas appears to be creating open-source alternatives to these subscription-based Microsoft Office tools, also making a statement against such practices. One of the main issues with these software programs is their compatibility across different operating systems; Adobe runs on MacOS and Windows, while Linux requires additional compatibility layers and Windows emulation to function.

ArtCraft's main selling point is its ability to run on all three platforms while providing an identical user experience regardless of the operating system - a feature that ArtCraft aims to achieve. Unlike Google, which offers these tools for free through Google Sheets, Docs, and Slides available on all platforms via a browser, the online-only model takes away the ownership aspect of the software, raising concerns that these tools could one day require a subscription, leaving users with no choice.

ArtCraft's Discord community is rapidly growing, with users frequently requesting other software to be developed, such as CADcraft, which is frequently discussed among 3D printing and engineering enthusiasts who dislike Autodesk. While these free alternatives were available before the surge of vibecoded software, this collection of tools not only functions well but also sends a message to large companies.

Most of these apps are still far from their intended replacements, so we will have to wait and see how significant an impact this message will have.