Thats not really a touch solution though, its what we all have been doing for years.. CTRL CLICK , CTRL SHIFT CLICK mix it up and get the files you want. There really should be a touch only solution that works or more accurately I think there probably is one.
Valid point. However, the desktop mode is designed to be used with the Surface keyboards, because the only time you would enter the desktop mode is really for productivity like... typing. That expectation I'm sure extended to the various interfaces, so except for the Shift-select touch functionality (drag finger), MS still expects you to use your keyboard.
I usually have my keyboard attached 90% of the time anyway, so using the touchpad isn't a big deal to me (well, Swiftpoint mouse). That said, there are a bunch of free and paid Metro-style (bah, 'modern') file manager apps designed to be entirely touch-friendly and can be snapped to the side. I also use the free app EaseUS File Manager, which works as expected--a quick down-swipe on the file 'tiles' selects them individually, and when the app is snapped beside the desktop, swipe sideways to select.
Having a unified touch friendly experience in the real File Explorer would be welcome, though.
Looks like it's not coming with 8.1. Something stood out in that article, though: "A modern-style file explorer app would save touchscreen Windows users, including all Windows RT users, from having to suffer the tedium of pecking through the desktop file explorer." So how is the Surface Pro different in this regard?
