[Lexinom]

I've had gadgets since the 1970s using LEDs - from handheld games to calculators. From the 70s to the 80s, the color was almost always RED. In the late 80s green and yellow became more popular. In the early 90s, Cree pioneered fabrication wish Silicone Carbide to achieve a blue LED. Initially, these devices in their discreet form cost about 10x an equivalent red, yellow, or orange device. Geeks (like me) had a few in our inventory as a novelty, but it was too expensive owing to its proprietary nature for general use. Now, blue is ubiquitious to the point it seems the color of choice in new electronics.

Point is that the LED has been in the hands of the consumer for a LOOONG time. They do not burn out - at least, not suddenly - and any advances in this efficient and reliable technology are a positive.

The gas discharge tube was another interesting light emitting technology, used in seven-segment displays (common in VCRs for a time), greyish/white in color. I have not seen this for awhile.

[sionnsar]

From the 70s to the 80s, the color was almost always RED. In the late 80s green and yellow became more popular.

The reason they were "almost always" red was because that was the only color they could make (at least in production quantities and reasonable prices). The first red LEDs were extremely dim by today's standards.

[null and void]

I've had gadgets since the 1970s using LEDs - from handheld games to calculators.

I'm still using an HP-45 calculator I bought in '73...