Development officially began in March 1994. Over the next several years, previews of Copland garnered much press, introducing the Mac audience to basic concepts of modern operating system design such as object orientation, crash-proofing, and multitasking. In May 1996, Gil Amelio stated that Copland was the primary focus of the company, aiming for a late-year release. Internally, however, the development effort was beset with problems due to dysfunctional corporate personnel and project management. Development milestones and developer release dates were missed repeatedly.