I run a software business. Customers actually believe the marketing mantra that the latest version is the "latest and greatest". Not always so, especially with stability and security. I can't tell you the number of customers who upgraded everything to have the latest and greatest--against my advice--and ran into problems. Unless there is some new feature you are dying for, don't upgrade. Listen to the familiar saw: if it ain't broken, don't fix it!
Something individual consumers don't understand is how painful and expensive upgrades are for a large business. The software license upgrade is a minuscule part of the expense. Even if the new licenses were free, it would be too expensive. That's why large businesses usually only get new software on new machines.
Plus the store chain owner in the article might be right about Microsoft extending support. They've done it before. If it's true that 38% of Windows machines are XP, it'll be hard not to. Businesses make money by supplying their customer needs. Who has more power, Microsoft or their customers?