90% of everything is crap (Sturgeon's law), but as I understand both commercial and free software advanced quite a bit in the 1990s: Visual BASIC, HyperCard 2.0, Java, JavaScript, Linux, MacOS System 7-9, TrueType, Windows 95, Windows NT, Photoshop, Microsoft Office, Encarta, Lotus Notes 2.0, MPEG, QuickTime, video editing (Video Toaster etc.), Pro Tools, MP3 encoders/players and WinAmp, Acrobat and PDF software, WWW, Apache, NCSA Mosaic, Netscape Navigator, FrontPage (and other html editors), ICQ and Instant Messenger, video conferencing (CU-SeeMe), various IDEs (Eclipse), etc. Not to mention incredible developments in PC, console and arcade games...
Ehhh... I disagree.
Java -> Bloated compared to Icon/TCL
VB -> OKish, but TCL/Tk and a bit of C did wonders under Unix.
NT -> Good, advanced
95 -> Mediocre against Amiga/Mac.
MSO -> Polished turd and uberused, giving disasters such as the renaming on Genomics and tons of papers now being void.
MPEG -> Good, bound to TV and multimedia standards.
QT -> Propietary crap, but QT3D was and it's still interesting. Lqtplay from libquicktime plays them well.
MP3 -> Opus and OGG preferred here
Acrobat/PDF -> PostScript and DJVU
Netscape/FrontPage -> Damn crazy bloat with opaque formats on tons of stuff not bound to proper terminology. Even using Emacs editing HTML pages seems easier. Composer looked easier than FP, for sure.
Videoconf -> Yes, h323 and friends.
IDE's -> A lot of them were better under DOS or very bloated under Windows, such as Eclipse, Netbeans...
PC/Console -> Yep, 3DFX/Glide and free Unixen, but consoles went downhill, the PC was set ahead since the Unreal engine.