I would like to know as to what has been the experience of using direct data access components like devart's MyDAC which allows a direct connection to the mysql server rather than through the client library or ODBC.


Question: Should users be forced to go through a walkthrough?
Answer: Force users to start an optional walkthrough.

To me, it seems most important to give users the option to opt out of the walkthrough. Some little no thanks button to exit the walkthrough should suffice. 

The users that are annoyed by the walkthrough are most often those, that know the service and feel like they will not profit from it - so the percentage of "helpless" users actually going through the walkthrough and profiting from it will remain high, while the negative feedback from "versed" users already somewhat familiar with your product will go down as they can opt out.

Additionally, I think @MJJ has a point in his answer saying that eventually it also comes down to decreasing the need for a walkthrough that your users will profit from the most. Furthermore, @yisela's answer also gives an example of how a less intrusive walkthrough with just little tooltips can also improve the tutorial acceptance.