I found this video to be fascinating to challenge the idea that you should replace all your incandescent bulbs with fluorescent. It is a very well researched and tested presentation. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gjvOOlHmsU
That's a fair critique of CFLs for short use locations. Some of the longevity and immediate brightness does depend on brand as well. Also light color has improved.
In theory it does make a difference, but here's the thing- many bulbs in short use-locations will take FOREVER to burn out. Because even if a bulb's life is reduced to say, 500 hours if it's turned on for 2 minutes at a time, that's good for 15,000 cycles. So even if you turn a bulb on and off 5 times a day for two minutes (maybe a bathroom?) the CFL will still last for over 8 years. And that's assuming you continuously cycle the bulb- I'm guessing they'd last for a few more cycles if they're given longer to cool down. So yes you might spend maybe $3 more to have a CFL in a low use area...but over 8 years that's absolutely trivial. Plus, if you're replacing all the bulbs in your house, you might end up saving a bit per bulb by buying a larger pack.
And there's always the possibility that you in fact end up using the bulb for longer periods than you anticipated over that 8 year period or that your usage varies between short and long cycles. If your bathroom gets taken over by a teenage daughter, the average bulb usage could go from 30 seconds to 30 minutes. Or perhaps the kitchen light you normally flick on and off to grab a snack starts being used for four hours a day when you're baking and serving meals over the holidays. Then the CFL is lasting for close to its expected lifespan of 6000-10000 hours AND it's using significantly less power than an incandescent- and that's where you could save quite a bit, perhaps as much as $60 per bulb.
The guy in the video says he spends $8 a year on electricity for light bulbs. Yeah right. At 15 cents a kwh (what most people probably pay with taxes) that's enough to power a single 60 watt bulb for a little over 2.5 hours a day. So this guy either is not home, asleep, relying on sunlight or living in darkness for 21.5 hours a day and sitting around a single 60W incandescent bulb for the other 150 some minutes.
So sure, maybe you don't need to replace the bulb in your dusty basement or attic with a CFL. But generally speaking, considering how much people pay for power for lighting as a whole, CFLs do save quite a bit of money in the long run. Ultimately, LEDs will probably win out- they turn on instantly, have beautiful light, are dimmable, contain no mercury, use less power than either CFLs or incandescents, last longer than CFLs AND their lifespan isn't dramatically harmed by short on times. They're just a bit more than CFLs, but the price is falling dramatically.