We bought a bunch of the compact flourescent bulbs motivated by the fact that if a bunch of people do this, there will be less greenhouse emissions from power plants.

This is a good idea poorly executed.  The damn bulbs don’t fit the all our light fixtures. Bedside lamp shade won’t fit, and the outside light fixture top won’t fit right because the bulbs are too tall.

It’s really amazing to me that a product that could do so much good was so poorly designed and tested.  The incandescent bulb has been around for 125 years, and there was no “upgrade” problems.

I think it’s the Microsoft Effect: Any upgrade will not be simple nor work exactly as promised.