They corrected the lag time and had instant on features before the Bush mandate was conceived. They  developed warm light options long before as well. You imply they weren't "standard size" when, in fact, they were standard size. They were only in common use in commercial applications and not on the consumer level. I began using them in the early '90's but it was 15 years later before anybody I knew began using them. On average, they lasted 10 times as long as Edison bulbs, which doesn't mean that a small percentage didn't. Of course people loved to talk about the one or two they heard had failed, neglecting to mention the thousands that didn't. They also said they were too expensive or funny looking or the light was "white". Of course "they are still common now...", 9 years after the Bush mandate and that proves my point as well since LEDs are far superior to CFLs and should have replaced them by now.