Anyone who misses the M9 has never used it beyond a square clean range. The design is terrible for combat, particularly in a dirty dry environment. The open slide is a dirt magnet. The external hammer is a dirt magnet. Both quickly lead to dry gun and dry gun malfunctions. The single action/double action operation from a holster is slow compared to striker fired. The slide has edges and corners that can pinch or cut fingers/hands when dealing with stoppages.
I have one. I have trained with one. I would never carry one by choice. Would take any striker fired or 1911 over the Beretta any day.
It was easy to shoot, lightweight (to me anyway), had little recoil and stayed on target. The scuttlebutt had always been the Army needed a pistol more female friendly so they pushed the M-9 on the military claiming it brought us to NATO standards. There were some really good female marksman, especially the reservists who were cops. But, a lot of the female shooters hated the M-9, claiming it was too bulky, to heavy and they could not grip it correctly and complained about the recoil. Obviously they never shot an M1911. I suspect a lot of Reserve female Master at Arms qualified by Bic that day. The article says the SIG fits smaller hands better. Does that mean it was selected to better fit female hands? Does it have alternate grips? What about men with larger hands?