Developer Who Cloned Photoshop With AI Just Did the Same to Microsoft Office

Key Points:

• Engineer Brandon Thomas has released open-source Microsoft Office clones—WordCraft, GridCraft, and DeckCraft—built with Anthropic's Claude AI, available on GitHub under permissive licenses allowing commercial reuse.
• These apps are clean-room rebuilds written in Rust, running natively on multiple OSes and in browsers, supporting most core features and native file formats (.docx, .xlsx, .pptx), though they remain in early alpha stages with partial feature coverage and stability.
• WordCraft covers 88% of Word's ribbon features and about 60% overall functionality; GridCraft supports 513 of Excel's 523 functions but is only about 50% ready for real-world use; DeckCraft is less mature but supports key PowerPoint features and animations.
• The apps integrate AI agents via the Model Context Protocol, allowing users to perform complex tasks like chart building or report formatting through natural language commands, enhancing productivity without manual input.
• This free alternative challenges Microsoft's $100+ yearly subscription for Office 365, offering a lightweight, familiar interface that could attract users deterred by switching costs, though the software still requires significant testing and refinement before full adoption.