Interesting read and judging by the number of 90's sleds I still see in our area, there's a lot of truth to the article.
While it's not rider forward, I still find the ride of my 2001 XC Deluxe with the Extra-12 rear suspension and Fox shock to be quite comfortable for any of the trail conditions I ride up here. Then there's motor access. When I open the hood of the XC, I just smile. I was quoted 6 hours of labor for a mechanic to pull the motor on my 2013.
I do have some later model sleds and enjoy riding them all and being more purpose oriented, they excel at what they were designed to do. So no, I don't want to throw out all the improvements over the last 30 years but I wouldn't write off the 90's sleds as horse and buggy technology either.