In 'Detailed List' view it is not possible to select a bunch of items while holding the left mouse-button and moving over the elements. This works in 'Icons' view and 'Compact List' view.
Works fine here, but you cannot start in a selected file because that will result in a drag.
I can reproduce this. It is exactly the other way around as the previous comment says. You can only start the selection when you are over a file, but cannot start it from the "white area" after the list.
Marking duplicate. *** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of bug 11605 ***