TGunnar - I would be curious to hear how this pans out for you into the near-ish future in regard to Windows 7 being problem free. Users have reported issues on 7, 8, 8.1, Ubuntu, Arch, Gentoo, you name it. I sincerely (hate to say it) doubt that Windows 7 actually fixed anything.
I also encourage you to call Acer and push for a system swap. I just did that with Dell and it worked out fine. I did have to twist a few arms though. When I called Dell they simply indicated to me that I should wait for a driver fix. I politely informed them that this has been an issue for a year now and no fix has come about. I said I refuse to play this game with a device that is not working. Like it or not, Dell put the card in the laptop. Yes, it's Intel's problem, they are at fault, but Dell still put the wireless card in the laptop. As a result, I went through Dell to get it rectified. I swapped the wireless card once with another 7260 from Dell, but that made no change. Dell indicated that they wanted to at least try again, something I was hesitant about given I was tired of wasting my time, but I played ball. They wanted to replace the wireless card (2nd time), antenna, and motherboard. After a week of no communication I called to check on the status, only to find that Dell, for whatever reason, canceled the parts replacement. At this point I escalated it to a system swap and demanded to bypass the parts replacement due to their goof, something to which they ultimately agreed to.
Right now I am on a problem free Dell Latitude E7440 running Ubuntu 14.04.1 with an Atheros AR9462 wireless card. It might not be an AC card, but dangit, it works. It stays connected. It does the job and then some. This is something the Intel 7260 could not stand up to in the slightest dimension.
To be blunt, I fully support (I cannot stress this enough) a class action lawsuit against Intel. They have ignored this issue for long enough. Intel, stop messing with your customers. We are paying customers. We paid you for a product. You did not deliver on this product. Sorry, you just didn't. Your customers deserve better. Enough of this "we're working on a fix." Too much time has passed for anybody in their right mind to accept that at this point in time. If you had any ounce of desire to retain your customers, you'd do something about it. A recall for this card sounds like a terrific idea, but you know how big companies are these days. I wouldn't hold my breath.
TGunnar - please keep us informed on how Windows 7 works with that card. I'm very interested to hear if it tanks again or if the issue persists.