If you are a Delphi 7 fan, you might be better off with Lazarus as newer Windows has changed so much that older programs like that just aren't running on the current Windows anymore. Lazarus is free and it is as close to the older D7 IDE as you'll get these days. And Lazarus is much more capable than Delphi of yester-year, just add "Delphi Compatibility Mode" to your project's compiler settings if you want to directly port old Delphi code over.

Normally I wouldn't suggest switching over unless you want to support a different platform, but as you seem reluctant to purchase a newer Delphi, Lazarus would be your only other FREE option. And sticking to aging tools is never a good way to do software development.