Is old.<fieldName> deprecated?

Is old.<fieldName> deprecated?

In the past, I've used old.<fieldName> to compare old values to new input in the On Validate workflow.  I now get an error message that says "Variable 'old' is not defined."

I know I could work around this by fetching the current value of the field being changed, but was hoping the "old" syntax was just replaced with something else?  Also, if you want to send a confirming email saying the field has been changed from "old" to "new,"  there is no easy way to pass on the "old" value without creating a separate field to hold it.

Thanks.