Ah... I think I understand now. The old plugs have a base which is truly circular, right? The Schuko plug has flats on the sides with the locating lugs which fit between the moldings on the recessed sides of the receptacle.
I can't help wondering why the Schuko receptacles were designed in such as way as not to allow existing non-grounding plugs to fit.
(A similar criticism could be aimed squarely at the British BS546 connectors as well, of course, although at least in that case a 3-pin plug won't fit a 2-pin socket.)
[This message has been edited by pauluk (edited 09-12-2002).]
