Windows 7 only died because Microsoft said so, and then others listened. Fearmongering about security updates, I don't get. Let's say you get a virus, then you nuke + reinstall, while keeping user data/installers on separate drive. That is good enough "security" for me.
The second part about "others listening" is more problematic. I'm talking about version numbers for node, docker, python, etc. So you're then forced to use something modern, so linux in a VM.
Typically I will approach development with a boycott on technologies that require new oses. So Python 3.10 it is. Also node/npm to me just sucks. I like older stuff, because it was better, like js/html/css. The document is the document, not running through lots of build tools to finally become the document. Or stuff that simply still works. To me it's easier to use a game engine -> HTML5 then node + react for web dev. Yes it's bad for accessibility. But it's not based on brittle building. When I'm targeting "old works" it has the advantage that the software AND dev environment still works later (assuming win 7). I wish less languages/frameworks/etc on would stop deprecating it.
It's still the best os to actually use. You get git bash so normal commands work. Win 7 feels like linux without randomly nuking your os for your terrible mistake of enabling automatic logon or something. How dare a user change a setting, I guess you're nuking your os now. In a VM linux is good because snapshots mostly alleviate the random breakage.
Typically you only have to re-install every several years. And honestly linux is like way better than windows obviously, EXCEPT the random breakage and badly coded interactions and environment fragmentation.
Win 7 just boringly works well. No injected ads. Low resource usage. Os doesn't hari-kiri randomly