That's true enough, but even back then your case was not the norm, and while I have no hard data to back this up, I heavily suspect the situation is even worse

That's true enough, but even back then your case was not the norm, and while I have no hard data to back this up, I heavily suspect the situation is even worse now as contemporary companies seem much more willing to publicly fuck over option holders, ala Zynga or Skype.