TYPO3 Core

so it is easier to en-/dis-able multiple records in a short. there is a difference to the intended behaviour of having multiple records switched at the same time.
especially if you need this small timeframe and having a not so simple selection. and selecting all records (with the option to unselect just a small number) would be spare a lot of clicks.

maybe in 8

I assume we still have an option to select multiple records for further action. On touch devices selections often are done with a mini-slider instead of simple checkboxes.
the other aspect is the question how to select the action to execute with all selected records. till now there were individual buttons above the checkbox column. with a lot of actions there might not be enough space for all that buttons. so you always can do a 'drop-down' (on touch devices sometimes as a popup) selection (with an execute button)

from here: #65069 there could be a possible solution: http://tympanus.net/Development/MultiElementSelection/index.html