The “new” form has been valid since the original 1998 C++ standard, where it was added for compatibility with C. “You now have to know” has therefore already be

The “new” form has been valid since the original 1998 C++ standard, where it was added for compatibility with C. “You now have to know” has therefore already been the case for the past 27 years. Back then the old pre-standard form was kept for backwards compatibility, and is only now being deprecated.