Who cares HOW long it took to get OS4 out??
what matters is that even dispite all the obstacles, they KEPT working at it and every week beta testers were sending reports and new version of various parts of the OS came out.
They persisted - the main key to success.
They can say that THEY finished a product and having seen it develop over the years I can say it's very impressive.
I've seen plenty of groups have big ideas but when things get difficult, they lose heart and give up. Hyperion never gave up and for THAT they deserves loud applause.