While the article has done good points about what to do instead of an on-boarding, I'd also suggest on-boarding can be good for the user. Video games tend to do on-boarding, and often it's not skippable and covers very basic idioms (use the left stick/WASD to move).

The difference I think it's the novelty of the new environment and a sense of accomplishment that it rarely is a chore. So go ahead and on-board if the user gets to see something very cool.