Cyanogen's co-founder thinks he can beat Windows with a Linux distro for AI bros.

Kirt McMaster, the co-founder behind the defunct Android challenger Cyanogen, is launching a new venture. His company, Kora Systems, is building a Linux-based desktop operating system designed for heavy AI users. It promises to integrate AI agents directly into the OS so they can work across apps and remember context between tasks. The OS, slated for a 2027 release, will run on standard PC hardware and is being developed with the help of AI coding assistants like Codex and Claude.

McMaster isn't aiming for the masses. He's targeting a niche of 'power AI users'—estimating 45-50 million people today—who would pay for premium AI services baked into the OS. While he cites lessons from Cyanogen's failure due to dependence on Google, the plan feels like a familiar Silicon Valley trope: taking on a behemoth with a specialized OS, years before launch, hoping a small but wealthy user base will make it viable. The takeaway? The tech industry's obsession with 'AI-first' everything has officially reached the operating system, promising yet another fragmented future.