I asked someone to forward me the press release, which states it won't be made until 02/2011. OK, so releases are controlled marketing tools and this one is about average (meaning pretty lame).

OT: I hate being called a consumer instead of a person who wants clean clothes and considers other factors.

At heart it's a concentration and packaging change for powders that "delivers meaningful benefits for the environment." Maybe. It looks like smaller box. Same number of loads though.

These appear to be available in Canada now. I do not see them on the US Tide website.

The Canadian website does nothing to explain what "compact" really means (at least that I could find).

Here is a link that might be useful: Tide Canada

When Procter & Gamble concentrated the liquid detergents a few years ago or whenever it was, they used the term "compaction" for the process. Pick a term you like. It's basically more concentrated so you use 1/2 as much. However in the process it wasn't as some suggested, that they just removed some water from the detergent. They used different enzymes and a different formula. Their claim was that the "compacted" Tide worked better on stains than the previous Tide, the "compacted" Gain held the smell in the clothes longer than the previous Gain, the "compacted" Cheer was better for colored clothes than the previous Cheer, etc. About that time is when I switched to Tide Free Sensitive Skin (now called "Free & Gentle") and I didn't notice a real difference between the 1x and the 2x versions except one thing: I usually use less than recommended so I was using a 2x cap for the 1x detergent an it automatically cut the amount in half so it was easier measuring. Now I just have to be a little more careful.

I'm only guessing but seems logical that the powdered compaction would be similar in concept to the liquid.