thanks irokoness, getting there but feeling a bit weak

starkers...I'm a fair dinkum Aussie...so 'bastard' means you love me...so don't fret...

I'd still go with Acronis...as it's the one I have successfully used several times...on several machines.

Go for 13 ....just do it before 2014, eh? ....

Nah, no fretting here, I was just toying with words.  Besides, bastard is most often used with affection here in Oz, rather than as an insult, and over the years [43 of them on December 24] I've been called a Pommy bastard more often than I can remember, often by very good friends.

The more I think about it the more I'm leaning that way... because it has those added utilities I found rather useful, and I am somewhat more familiar with it than other offerings.

What, I can't go straight to 2014 to save myself this trouble when Win 9 comes out?

http://www.techbuy.com.au/p/78948/SYSTEMS_SMALL__HOME_OFFICE/Techbuy/TBOS78948.asp

Australian store.  Scroll down to operating system options, it offers windows 7.

Okay, so a few smaller traders here and there are still offering Win 7 with their builds, but expect MS to dry up Win 7 disc supplies in the near future to nip that in the bud ASAP.

However, that was not my point. Try getting a machine with Win 7 preinstalled from Hardly Normal, Officeworks and Myer, etc... major PC outlets.  Like my neighbour said, they're stocking Win 8 machines and will not take orders for PC's loaded with Win 7.  The Hardly Normal salesman offered her a Win 8 PC and a do-it-yourself Win 7 disc for an additional cost, warning her that the option would only be available for a very short time. 

Me, I refuse to shop at Hardly Normal, for the sniveling, whiney-assed hypocrite Gerry Harvey is.  Bastard [not said with affection] lobbied government to impose high taxes on online purchases so's his billionaire arse enjoyed even greater profit from his already over-priced stores, the slimy prick that he is.

Just to clear things up. I'm from the EU, not Australia. I don't know anything about australian stores. The link i posted i got from googling "australia computer store" and clicking on the very first link it gave me.

Maybe it is a small trader, i have no idea really, but it's not like i had to search through countless obscure stores before finding one that offered a windows 7 PC. Took me about 30 seconds.

Right, so I took that bullet and, instead of biting it, I effing well chomped on it.

Like not only did I do the Acronis 2013 upgrade, I also purchased the 2013 'Plus Pack' to accompany it.

And one of the most pleasing aspects of my purchase, if not the most pleasing... Gerry (whiney-Ass) Harvey didn't see a frickin' cent of it.

Oh, and while I'm on the subject of purchases, does anybody remember me saying something about smart phones being yuppy overkill, or something to that effect?

Okay, good, cos I'm now the proud owner of a you-beaut NextG, wi-fi enabled smartphone with more whistles and bells than I can poke a stick at.  No, I didn't purchase it... that was my soon to be departing - to England - mother, who's an 88 y/o yuppy who loves to hang out online and purchase online bargains... and what a bargain it was... er, they were. 

She got 4 of them @ $54,95 each, and believe me, they aren't cheaply made Taiwanese/Chinese items, either.  No, although they are Telstra branded phones, they're made by LG and are quite solid little units, not to mention being somewhat slick in appearance.  Moreover, they are unlocked and we can hook up to a provider of our own choosing, though I'll likely stick with Telstra as I'm already with them for my landline/internet, and I'll be able to utilise all the inbuilt and additional features exclusive to Telstra.

Hehe, and one of the most pleasing aspects of mother's purchase, if not the most pleasing... Gerry (whiney-ass) Harvey didn't see a fricking red cent of it.

stax77, you're missing the point entirely.  It's not whether or not some smaller operators are still selling PC's with Win 7 installed, but that the major retailers are not, probably at the behest of Microsoft.  Now it's quite likely that Microsoft wants to push Win 8 more aggressively, given the poor sales figure worldwide, and that means it will likely dry up supply of Win 7 to enable that, meaning that even the smaller traders won't be able to provide customers with Win 7 machines for much longer.

It happened when Win 7 was released! There may have been a few old copies out in the wild to begin with, but MS ceased releasing earlier editions and within a few weeks of 7's release, Vista and XP were pretty much unavailable anywhere in Australia.

Sad thing, that page you linked was just changed on 11/21. On 11/12 it stated that Acronis Home 2012 was going to get Windows 8 support via a patch.

I know because I emailed them on 11/12 asking when they were going to release the patch. Now I know why they didn't reply.

Yeah, there wasn't a payment included with yer email.

Starkers I'm inclined to agree with you that sooner is better than later if a person wants to pick up a copy of Win7.  Particularly if he wants a version that is not married to the motherboard, and/or locked into 32bit, and/or doesn't require XP to actually be installed first.  Lots of OEM versions out there, but otherwise it's already a little sparse.

Looking at the prices of Windows 7 Ultimate at Newegg and elsewhere, I can see the appeal of Win8. That still doesn't sell me on it, but it does make more sense I guess.

Fewer cents, actually.

Not exactly trying to dump it off are they?

The thing is, Microsoft doesn't really want sales of Win 7 as it would place greater demand on their support sevices in 2013 -14...  it would rather place its support eggs in the Win 8 basket and focus on the future of Windows, not past editions.