Yes, it does feel like a completely different language. The sample code in the article is nearly unreadable to this C++ veteran. And based on the verbosity of the result I'm not sure it's an improvement.
I have to agree. Pumping out C++ revisions every 3 years means I can no longer assume a game written in C++ will port relatively painlessly from one C++-compatible platform to another, as it all depends on which C++ standard is supported by the platform SDK/toolset I'm forced to use.