When a drugmaker introduces a "new and improved" version of an old pill about to lose patent protection, it usually stops marketing the older one and makes an allout attempt to get doctors to switch to the new version.

FORBES: Pills and Poker

The problem is buried in the fine print of universal life policies, widely promoted since the 1980s as a new and improved version of the old-fashioned whole life insurance product our grandparents relied on as the surest way to save for retirement.

FORBES: Retirement Disaster Looms For Universal Life Policyholders

As for widgets, you get the same old battery indicator, task manager and PadFone Station Assistant (for setting the charging mode and how incoming calls are handled), along with both the old version and a new version of the ASUS weather widget.

ENGADGET: ASUS PadFone 2 review: two times is a charm for this phone-in-tablet combo

And soon enough, the CIO job was tagged for what it really was: just a new and gilded version of the same old management information systems slot.

FORBES: Reprieve For A Dying Species

Former Kent and England bowler Min Patel, who took 1-37 for the MCC, believes there is little difference between the new and old balls and sees no reason why the pink version will not be used in future internationals.

BBC: Pink ball makes debut at Lord's

And with it, comes a new version of the something between 150 years old and infinity.

FORBES: The First Person to Live to 150 Has Already Been Born--Revisited!

But Windows 8 will also run on regular old PCs, and underneath the new tablet-friendly interface, it will look and feel a lot like the old version of Windows.

CNN: This is the year Microsoft fights back

Old reliables Camry, in a new and improved version, and Corolla continue to hold down huge portions of the crucial small-car segment.

FORBES: Back-On-Top Toyota Tests Gains With New Version of Tundra

The strongest bond between the old right of the 1980s and 1990s and the new version is another non-economic cause: Euroscepticism.

ECONOMIST: The Conservatives' new divide