I believe the most important difference between then and now is you no longer need to purchase expensive toolchains to develop commercial software. Well into t

I believe the most important difference between then and now is you no longer need to purchase expensive toolchains to develop commercial software. Well into the 90's every developer office was adorned with the 6" thick Borland box, proving they had their license. Opensource toolchains and languages took time to mature, but are ultimately responsible for the today's prolific programmer.