Good to know that Workbench 3 is usable.
I agree with your statements that Workbench is an important component of Software development, and I am concerned that the tool is not being supported for those outside Wolfram research as it should be. I hope that changes with the release of version 3. My standard for support of an IDE, as well as training, is Apple's support of XCode.
I also agree that not requiring a Cloud connection is a good thing. When I first heard about Mathematica on-line, I thought it would turn out to be essentially an alternative to CDF player as a means for letting people without Mathematica on their desktops run Wolfram Language programs. The current business model is not inexpensive enough for the casual user to be of use in this application. This, of course, is a separate issue from the one you raise. I worked in the medical field for some time, where privacy is a big issue, and knowing where the data was at all times is critical. It would be useful if Mathematica could give a visual clue when it was accessing the cloud, for tasks such as getting packet updates as well as getting data. I can envision an environment where an application would have to run without internet access at all, except for well-defined tasks, such as software updates. It is difficult to design a system with these constraints without explicit indication of when Mathematica is accessing the Cloud.
