I changed Word, Excel, and PowerLevel with free vibe-coded apps, and so they maintain up higher than anticipated

Watching an LLM spit out strains and contours of code in seconds that may’ve usually taken a developer hours, if not days, to jot down nonetheless feels somewhat dystopian to me. As a pc science main who’s spent numerous hours making an attempt to get even the best packages to work, it is actually somewhat terrifying to consider simply how a lot these instruments are able to.

At the identical time, I’d be mendacity if I mentioned I wasn’t equally fascinated by the probabilities they’re opening up. Up till just a few months in the past, when a contemporary thought popped into your head, your choices have been pretty restricted. You both needed to have the technical expertise to deliver it to life your self, spend months studying the best way to construct it, or discover somebody who may do it for you. Now, with AI coding instruments, you possibly can go from an thought to a working utility in a matter of hours, generally even minutes.

Beyond experimenting with my very own vibe-coded tasks, I’ve at all times made it some extent to maintain up with what different persons are constructing utilizing these instruments. One developer, for instance, has gone so far as recreating a number of the largest names in software program, together with Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerLevel, utilizing AI coding instruments. Naturally, I needed to put them to the take a look at.

A developer used Claude to construct free options to Word, Excel, and PowerLevel

And this is not even his first rodeo

If you have been following the software program and AI area for some time, you would possibly already be conversant in ArtCraft, a venture by software program engineer Brandon Thomas. To rapidly catch you up, Adobe’s subscription practices frustrated Thomas a lot that he determined to take issues into his personal palms and create his personal options.

Though he did have 15 years of software program engineering expertise underneath his belt, he determined to show to Claude Opus 5.5 and use AI to do a lot of the heavy lifting. The consequence was seven free, open-source options to a few of Adobe’s hottest Creative Cloud purposes, together with PhotoCraft (Photoshop), LightCraft (Lightroom), and FilmCraft (Premiere Pro). All seven apps are written in Rust, a programming language identified for its efficiency and reminiscence security, and can be found for Windows, macOS, and Linux.

Thomas shared that he is been engaged on ArtCraft for round a 12 months now, and that his ambitions prolong far past merely recreating Adobe’s software program. While he initially described the venture as half of a bigger effort to make skilled inventive instruments extra accessible, it appears like we’re already starting to see simply how far these ambitions go.

Apparently, recreating Adobe’s Creative Cloud suite wasn’t sufficient, as a result of he is since gone a step additional and constructed free, open-source alternatives to Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerLevel, too.

WordCraft is perhaps my favourite free Microsoft Word various but

Word on the road is, it is fairly good

I’ve never been a fan of Microsoft Word, which implies I’ve tried my fair proportion of options through the years. Unfortunately, most have left me upset in a method or one other. There’s LibreOffice, for instance, which I used for a college venture final semester. Unfortunately, I ended up shedding my doc whereas engaged on that venture, and the expertise has left a reasonably dangerous style in my mouth ever since.

Since I’m already fairly deep into Apple’s ecosystem, I figured Apple Pages can be the apparent selection. Except that got here with its personal fair proportion of issues. Syncing between my gadgets hasn’t at all times been dependable, and I’ve had paperwork randomly refuse to open, which is the very last thing you need whenever you’re making an attempt to get work finished.

Thankfully, WordCraft has turned out to be one of many higher Word options I’ve tried to date. For starters, the interface is remarkably much like Microsoft Word’s, so there’s virtually no studying curve concerned! You get the acquainted ribbon interface, formatting choices, types, tables, and a lot of the instruments you’d anticipate to see in a phrase processor. I’ve finished three assignments on WordCraft to date, and the expertise has been extraordinarily easy. I am unable to inform I’m not utilizing Word!

So, I can confidently say that WordCraft is a wonderful various in the event you’re utilizing it in a private capability. I would not go so far as calling WordCraft a full-fledged Microsoft Word alternative simply but, although. While my expertise with it has been remarkably easy, a fast look via its GitHub challenge tracker reveals that some customers have run into issues with saving paperwork, preserving formatting, and exporting footnotes.

It additionally lacks the real-time collaboration options you’d discover in Google Docs or Microsoft Word, which may very well be a reasonably vital limitation in the event you incessantly work on paperwork with different individuals. LibreOffice continues to be a extra mature various, however contemplating how new WordCraft is, I believe it is already off to a promising begin.

GridCraft is simply as spectacular, nevertheless it has its limitations

There’s nonetheless some room in these cells

Frankly, I’m by no means an Excel energy person. I rarely work with PivotTables, do not depend on notably complicated formulation, and have not actually had a cause to discover a few of Excel’s extra superior options. That mentioned, I nonetheless discover myself turning to spreadsheets fairly incessantly, whether or not it is for analyzing knowledge, monitoring my work, or organizing data for faculty assignments.

So, whereas I am unable to communicate for somebody who spends their total workday buried in complicated Excel workbooks, I can definitely decide whether or not GridCraft is nice sufficient for the sort of on a regular basis duties I depend on spreadsheets for. Similar to my expertise with WordCraft, GridCraft has turned out to be surprisingly succesful.

The interface appears and feels extraordinarily much like Microsoft Excel, and I used to be in a position to import an current spreadsheet that I usually use for work with out a lot hassle. Most of the formulation labored as anticipated, and I may edit the spreadsheet simply as I usually would.

I did discover a slight lag when navigating round bigger spreadsheets, notably when choosing cells. It’s not a significant challenge, however there is a tiny delay that makes the expertise really feel rather less responsive than Excel or Google Sheets.

Of course, my expertise would not essentially replicate what somebody who depends closely on Excel’s extra superior options would possibly encounter. I got here throughout a Reddit dialogue the place customers identified that GridCraft nonetheless lacks a Power Query equal and VBA assist, together with some limitations surrounding PivotTables.

Ultimately, I believe GridCraft is in a reasonably comparable place to WordCraft. It’s already a compelling free various in the event you’re utilizing it for on a regular basis duties, but when your work relies on complicated Excel options, you would possibly end up operating into limitations pretty rapidly.

DeckCraft does its job, however leaves so much to be desired

Not fairly a picture-perfect presentation

Of the three purposes, DeckCraft might be the one I used to be most curious to check. While I nonetheless use Microsoft Word and Excel once in a while, I’ve largely moved away from PowerPoint in favor of Canva and Adobe Express, notably due to its in depth template library. So, I wished to see whether or not DeckCraft may persuade me to offer a extra conventional presentation editor one other shot.

I made a decision to place DeckCraft via two checks. First, I opened an current PowerLevel presentation that I’d acquired to see how effectively it dealt with .pptx information. To my shock, it labored remarkably effectively! The presentation opened with none points, and the formatting and format appeared simply as I’d anticipated. Considering how new DeckCraft is, I used to be impressed that I may open an current presentation with out having to spend ages fixing issues.

Next, I made a decision to strive making a presentation of my very own, and that is the place I began noticing some limitations. Whenever I’m engaged on a presentation, I virtually at all times begin with an current template and use it as a basis to construct my very own design round. In reality, that is one of many largest causes I’ve largely switched to Canva. Its in depth template library means I can normally discover one thing near what I bear in mind and customise it from there, reasonably than spending hours designing each slide from scratch.

Unfortunately, DeckCraft presently affords simply six presentation templates, and whereas there are a handful of themes to select from, they’re largely variations in fonts and shade palettes reasonably than absolutely designed displays. For somebody like me who virtually at all times makes use of templates as a place to begin for my designs, this was simply the largest disappointment. Sure, you possibly can create a presentation from scratch, however meaning spending significantly extra time on the design aspect of issues.

So, in the event you’re somebody who depends closely on templates like I do, you will most likely end up spending much more time on the design aspect of issues.

That mentioned, I do not suppose DeckCraft is a nasty presentation editor by any means. It handles the necessities fairly effectively, and the truth that I may open an current PowerLevel file with out operating into any noticeable compatibility points is definitely a plus. However, in comparison with my expertise with WordCraft and GridCraft, I believe DeckCraft has somewhat extra catching as much as do earlier than I’d significantly take into account switching to it for my on a regular basis displays.

The ArtCraft apps have two extra issues going for them

Your storage will thanks

Another factor I’ve seen throughout the ArtCraft purposes is simply how ridiculously quick they’re. They’re all light-weight, launch rapidly, and do not feel practically as resource-heavy as their Microsoft Office counterparts. For context, WordCraft takes up simply 218 MB on my Mac, DeckCraft occupies 187.6 MB, and GridCraft is even smaller at simply 68.8 MB.

Compare that to Microsoft’s Office purposes, which may generally take up effectively over 2 GB of storage every. Given that my MacE-book has pretty restricted storage, I’ve misplaced depend of what number of occasions I’ve needed to delete and reinstall Microsoft’s apps simply to unlock some area. So, having options that take up a fraction of the storage is a reasonably vital benefit.

There’s one other profit value mentioning, notably for Linux customers. All three ArtCraft purposes can be found for Windows, macOS, and Linux. Microsoft, alternatively, would not supply native desktop variations of Word, Excel, or PowerLevel for Linux. While you possibly can nonetheless entry Microsoft’s Office apps via a browser, having light-weight desktop options that feel and appear so much like their Microsoft counterparts is definitely a plus.

Ultimately, I do not suppose the ArtCraft purposes are fairly prepared to interchange Microsoft Office for everybody simply but. However, contemplating that they are utterly free, open supply, and nonetheless of their early phases, I’m impressed by how a lot they have already got to supply!