I started with DW back in 1999 as a crutch while I learned markup and styling. Gradually phasing out the visual editor over the years I got so accustomed to the code editor (highlighting/shortcuts) that I still use (and prefer) it.

DW got/gets a bad name because of it's visual editor (and therefore lower bar of entry) but it's no better/worse than any other visual editor.

Sadly it is introduced as industry standard for many students. Mainly for design schools where they also require Photoshop.

You never used Dreamweaver in your life. It has a great template system which make it easy to generate static websites, live inspection with an embedded webkit engine , and a very good style manager. Dreamweaver is definetly productive when it comes to integration or prototyping.