This (that lifespan and efficiency are inevitably a tradeoff in incandescent bulbs) is my understanding as well. You can get "rough service" or "extended life"

This (that lifespan and efficiency are inevitably a tradeoff in incandescent bulbs) is my understanding as well. You can get "rough service" or "extended life" incandescent bulbs that claim 5,000 hour lifetimes, but they are very obviously dim and orange compared with the standard bulbs. You can also get newfangled "high efficiency" incandescent bulbs (a 60W bulb's worth of light for ~40W) that package little halogen lamps inside the traditional bulb shape. (I'm a fan, I think they provide the highest quality light you can get right now.) But residential halogen lamps used to mostly claim 2,000 hour lifespans, and these new high efficiency ones only claim 900. None of that means the cartel had good intentions, though. Sometimes the right thing happens for the wrong reasons.