Inheritance gives you a great characteristic -- isa relationships. And this is something you don't get with composition.
That said, the fragility with poorly constructed base classes is real. But a succinct base class can be very valuable and useful, and not that brittle. Just don't stuff cruft in it that is of questionable value. Ask yourself what's the least you can put in the base class and still provide value.
And this is where interfaces are also useful. You can get the isa relationship w/o much of the brittleness as there is no internal state associated with the interface. But you are still creating a hierarchy (just not of classes, but of interfaces).
It's a useful article, especially for those new to the idea. But the takeaway should be to use care. Not to avoid at all costs.