My sentiments entirely! I, too, was happy with XP, until I started a new copywriting job and the pc I use has Windows 7, now I think it's much better than XP, so have had it installed on my home pc & my notebook, the only drawback is, the chap who helped me install it talked me into having Window Live for my emails, and I don't like it as much as when I had incredimail; however, incredimail is not really compatible with Windows 7, so I guess I'm stuck with Windows Live. I'm none too fussed over upgrading to Windows 8 when 7 is working well for me.
If the Win7 version is professional and above, you try install XP mode to solve the compatible issue.