Replying to an old post here, but to compare with Windows 8 / OneDrive functionality, in Windows 8 you can view, open and edit your online OneDrive data through Explorer as if it were in a local folder (IIRC via the Library shortcuts). It also gives you the option to make copies available offline (which are accessed in the same place) - you can do this at file or folder level. That's one of the best features of Windows 8, I'm hoping for very similar functionality in iCloud Drive once out of beta.
As an aside, IMO broadband bandwidth is definitely not something that should be used as an excuse for providing limited functionality, esp. considering that many users are using well over 10mbit packages or are on corporate networks providing much higher bandwidths. The solution described above caters to those on slow and those on fast network connections.