This New Linux-Based Desktop Operating System Is Built for AI Nerds

Kirt McMaster knows that his new operating system—Kora—won’t be for everyone, and he’s fine with that.

Kora, announced on Tuesday, is designed as a desktop alternative to Windows or macOS for “the AI native, not mass market,” he says. McMaster, the company’s CEO and cofounder—who also cofounded Boost Mobile—likens his strategy to how Steve Jobs targeted creators when overhauling desktop publishing with the Mac.

This “next-generation” desktop OS can integrate context from user interactions across multiple AI tools. Targeted to creators and developers, Kora’s central idea is to bring AI models together at the system level and help power users interact more seamlessly with multiple providers, rather than siloing everything off into desktop apps and browser tabs. It’s scheduled to launch sometime in 2027.

By tapping into your data and context at a machine level, Kora could streamline some of the current speed bumps of using AI tools on a desktop. “All your context, all your memory is on your machine,” says Franck De Girolami, one of Kora’s cofounders. He gives the example of someone designing a project with an OpenAI model inside Kora's interface, switching to Anthropic’s tools to deploy code, and leaning on a local model to save money on AI tokens.

Kora is a standalone operating system built on the Linux kernel that runs directly on hardware. The startup has partnered with Qualcomm to bring Kora to Snapdragon PCs next year, but it also supports x86-64 architecture, so you can likely install it on current Intel- or AMD-based PCs.

To bridge the software gap, built-in compatibility layers will allow users to run standard Windows apps. The company is also developing its own native apps for basics like contacts, calendar, and email, alongside a software development kit (SDK) for third-party developers. Along the bottom of the home screen is a dock, as you would expect on a desktop OS. This is where users can switch between email, web browsing, and launching games.