Needless to day, remote desktop controllers didn't work properly, either.
Back then, not much: with the free, old “ BTstack Mouse” app, you could do little, had to work with a separate Bluetooth implementation meaning incompatibility issues and connection initiation problems and the like.
You may remember THIS article, where I shown whether the then-current iOS mouse drivers (apps that made external Bluetooth mice work with iDevices) were any good. UPDATE (19/Oct/2012): see THIS for a quick report on the just-released version 1.1-2. The latter is far easier to operate it's just that it doesn't support mouse dragging for text selection. Unfortunately, this mode cannot be used regularly as the remote mouse cursor will be different from that of the local one, unlike in the default " Touch screen mode". It's only then that you'll be able to highlight text in the usual way, by just dragging the cursor. For example, with AlwaysOnPC, you must switch to " Mouse mode" from the default " Touch screen mode" by clicking the fifth icon.
Genuine text selection only works with remote desktop controllers in their non-touch emulation mode. When released, the usual pop-up menu is displayed with the usual options (Copy etc.) These handles can, then, be dragged by the mouse in exactly the same way as you'd do with your finger. That is, if you long-click a word, it'll be highlighted and the two handles will appear at the beginning / end of the word.