[benjamincburns]

I hope you don't work in UX.

"Educating the consumer" is the onus of the manufacturers. It doesn't mean 10-page instruction manuals with 6-point font or hours of meticulous research [edit: this is a horrible way to educate consumers]. In this case it probably means packaging and labeling which plainly states "not for use in recessed fixtures" in a way which most anyone would understand. This could be a sticker which says just that, it could be iconography, it could be an obnoxious DVD on loop in the lighting aisle at Home Depot, or it could be all of those things.

Yes, it's a light bulb (a light bulb!) but that doesn't mean manufacturers shouldn't attempt to get consumers to use it properly.

[Pxtl]

If your product requires that you "educate consumers" away from using it in a way that they can perfectly reasonably expect it to work? Your product is defective. A big warning label on the front of the box is the only reasonable accommodation for this, but in the real world this kind of defect ends up in the fine print.

If you want to make a special light-bulb that is only compatible with a narrowly defined set of environments, then make your own socket that is only compatible with your bulb and then sell fixtures that provide the needed environment.

If you want to use a standard socket, then you have to take the bad with the good and also deal with the kind of environments you'd find. This is the same bullcrap with devices that completely fail to charge on 0.5Watt USB power-supplies. If you can't charge off a standard USB connection, then you shouldn't use a USB port, because USB defines 0.5Watts and your device isn't USB-compatible. Legally required to support USB? Then stop pussy-footing around and actually support it instead of exclusively supporting a 1 or 2 watt perversion of the standard.

[annnnd]

I hope YOU don't work in UX... ;)

The need to educate a customer usually surfaces when someone was unable to produce a proper product. Sure, you need to warn users when your product can't be used under some circumstances, but if possible, you should aim at fulfilling the users' expectations instead.

[benjamincburns]

Touché. The comment was mostly directed at the hyperbole of "10 page manuals" and such.

I totally agree with what you're saying, though.

The issue at hand is that consumers want something that is impossible for manufacturers to give to them. That is, a 100% efficient lighting solution which shines light exactly when they want it, exactly how they want it, and lasts forever. Consumers have gotten used to a market where there has been almost no innovation for over a hundred years (in the driver side, fixtures are a different story). Now that there's some diversity in the market, consumers are unhappy because it's not matching expectations. The only way that will change is if manufacturers properly set expectations.

[JoeAltmaier]

I'm not so sure we won't see the desired solution, and soon. Pretty good illumination over a reasonable field would do the job. LED bulbs may get there sooner than you think, unless their reputation is irredeemably tarnished by the defective (read: not meeting minimum expectation) products being overmarketed today.

[R_Edward]

Now that dimmable 60-watt equivalent LED bulbs have dropped into the sub-sawbuck range, I was examining the packaging at my local Home Despot store. I remarked to the salesman who asked to help me how the iconography on the front of the package suggests that the bulb is suitable for use in your standard ceiling-mounted light fixture--which is usually enclosed--but the fine print on the back explicitly states that the bulb is not intended for use in enclosed fixtures. He agreed that the ceiling fixture icon was misleading, and that the fine print is what I must consider most authoritative.

He did note that the Cree brand bulbs are actually rated for use in enclosed fixtures, but alas, they're also more expensive at the moment than these other guys.