Question:
Is there a technical or logical difference between using an ANSI style join and specifying the join using the WHERE clause? Is there a general preference to either method, or is it solely dependent on your shop’s standards?

Answer:
No, there is good reason to adopt the new convention. The new syntax separates the join (ON) from the WHERE clause. Apart from taking a little getting used to, this lets you express outer joins that heretofore produced incorrect results! Go with the ANSI standard and lose the old habits.