Win7 is back.
http://www.neowin.net/news/hp-promotes-windows-7-pcs-sales-says-they-are-back-by-popular-demand
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/01/20/windows_7_gets_the_xp_treatment_as_users_demand_out_of_upgrade/
When your sales are down and the demand for your product is shrinking, you'll try anything.
Guess what, they did that for XP too (I bought this system early, so I could get XP Pro, but they extended the retail/OEM purchase of XP), Vista wasn't great, people weren't buying win7 in the volumes MS hoped for.
It is a crying shame that MS totally ignored the reviewers, testers and users and ended up with a mess of their own making. This really could have been handled better, yet again they shot themselves in the foot.
The problem is that many are so reluctant to even try win8 or win8.1, the next version some reviewers feel will be called win9 to avoid any association with win8.
It is around now that I would normally be upgrading, getting a new system (just over 5 years old), but I may well be waiting to see what the next offering will be. This one user that is unconcerned about the end of MS updates for XP come April. Or as has been mentioned get win7 Pro in my next system.