In short -- no, the articles are not obsolete. Though I'm working on some short updates. My take on the situation, after researching a whole bunch of websites and trade publications:

In summer of 2006, LED manufacturers started shipping their latest and greatest white LEDs, with efficiency figures rivaling those of compact fluorescent (CF) bulbs. These new products have not yet been incorporated into RE lighting products, but by summer of 2007 we should be seeing some products that use them. The research labs of some of these companies have also reported new LED technology that is starting to rival traditional fluorescent (FL) bulbs. These may start shipping in 2007, and might be seen in RE lighting products by 2008. All of these new white LEDs are expensive right now, but the prices can be expected to drop rapidly. It's an extremely encouraging development in high-efficiency lighting, especially for folks that live off grid.

Here's an excellent resource for keeping track of the latest and greatest in new LED technology, compiled by an expert (Don Klipstein). His FAQs and other LED information are also excellent.
http://members.misty.com/don/led.html#ln

If you are poring over manufacturer's press releases and LED datasheets looking for the most efficienct LED you can find, be sure to keep the following in mind: there are two different figures often cited for efficiency. The confusion comes from manufacturer's figures -- are they giving you lumens per watt of radiated light, or lumens per watt of power used by the LED? A high number (100 lumens per watt or over) indicates the former -- and that's not a measure of efficiency, you need to measure all the power the LED wastes as heat,too.

So, be careful when reading such press releases. There are Ebay sellers right now who are completely confusing these efficiency figures for their white LEDs. Buyer beware! In 2-3 years, though, it looks like those 100+ lumens per watt figures will be showing lumen output vs. total LED power usage, which could revolutionize the efficient lighting industry.

I wonder if others have noticed that some of the CFs and some LEDs that are sold don't live up to their claims of long life like they used to.  I've come across this problem (now and again) for the past few years.

But first, I should point out that back in -- on I don't remember exactly -- maybe 1995  or so, I bought my first CFs from Real Goods.  When these eventually burned out, it was almost traumatic.  I had enjoyed them for so long that it was like throwing away a family heirloom!  I don't recall if they lasted the 7 or so years that they were purported to last, but they sure lasted a long time!  I felt almost like preserving them in some sort of shrine.  

Another bad experience with CFs was when I bought some from Gaiam (then I think they were called Seventh Generation, and later Harmony).  These, oddly enough, were German made(!), which usually means anything but shoddy (or used to, anyway).  I think I bought two.  In anycase, on one of them, the glass part was loosely connected to the base when I first pulled it from its box!  Gaiam replaced it for free, however.  They were very nice and prompt about it.  (I like their toilet tissue from recycled paper, too).

In the past few years, though, the CFs I've bought at stores (rather than online at "green" businesses) have sometimes not lasted so long at all, some burning out within six months or less.  Even the projected life on the labels has dropped from 7 to 5 to 3 years on some makes.  I wish I had kept up more closely with the brand and the precise date when they were installed, and the precise date they died.  Then this wouldn't sound do darn anecdotal.
 

Maybe, however, some of this is my subjective mind, after all, as the secondary reason for buying CFs in the first place was that the incandescents I had been buying seemed to be having a shorter and shorter longevity.  Thus, at first, the CFs seemed wonderfully long-lived, but over time maybe I have gotten used to the relative superiority . . . But the thing is, I've never been one to leave lights on in areas I am not in.  I am not a waster at all, even before I installed my first solar stuff.  I actually got in a bad argument once with my girlfriend (who became an ex-girlfriend relatively quickly) about leaving lights on, and this was before my first CFs or LEDs.  

With LEDS, my first bad experience was with Jade Mountain sometime back, before the merger with Real Goods and Gaiam (but don't get me wrong, I loved Jade Mountain.  Their online catalog was much better than the consolidated version that Real Goods now has, not that I'm knocking Real Goods either.  They're still a great company.)  In that particular instance, Jade Mountain gave me the phone number of the maker.  When I talked to him, he thought I was having power surges or something. But I wasn't.  He offered to give me a refund, but in good faith I refused (being all for the good effort, even if it was fatally flawed).  In any case, not too long after that, Jade Mountain's catalog had a note that they no longer sold that particular brand of LED lights, so I guess other people had problems too with that brand.

Another recent bad purchase of an LED light was from ebay.  At least in that case, however, it was much cheaper.  And yeah, I think it was from China.  I don't think that particular LED flood type light lasted more than a couple of weeks.

I contacted the manufacture and complained I was not able to get any of the new LEDs and he told me I was not worth dealing with. No kidding, they just don't deal with little guys because they don't want to waist their time. He said, "I would have to agree to buy one million of the LEDs in one years time in order to get any to experiment on." I bitched and called him names and told him his mother wore army boots, and I had naked pictures of his wife, mother and grandma and was going to post them to Ebay.

I tried everything; I even tried to be nice. Ok,no, LMAO, not really. Heh Heh! Truth is, they have no interest in the small business-person, so from my perspective they are little better than the insurgents in Iraq. Small business drives the American econemy and is the most impotant venue we have. Most all of the greatest minds belong to the small business group. So #! %! I ended up getting some samples from a couple of the Chinese companies with their new LEDs and I have one that equals the output of the fourteen white flashlight LEDs. I figure this by using my old photo light meter at ten feet. Screw the paper BS. I feed them both with 15ma per diode. The new one also had a small IC chip diode that was unbelievable bright. I got three colours in the chips and one white in the standard bulb type LEDs. Man what does that tell you, the Chinese are more willing to work with us than out own countrymen???? Bad PR, Really bad PR! Ops sorry, it pisses me off.

Way cool, I have yet to check the ma, but it has run for 37 hours on three button cells. It is getting dim now, but that is very impressive. I'll post the specifications in the next day or so. So anyway, ta hell with Cree and their crap, they have no interest in the American consumer. I would like to post all of the correspondence, but the #$%^&&^#* most likely would sue my butt for something. They really sucked!