Best File-based Alternative to LR3.6?

For me the problem arises from the fact that my project are not centered around images, there are text, maps, spreadsheets, video, audio etc., etc. Collectively these files / folders / sub-folders are still dealt with best in windows explorer. Consequently, for my workflow, I often just want corrected, resized, cropped, whatever, images that are immediately visible within that windows explorer project context.

It seems that if I choose to use LR, that I will need to be importing / editing / exporting as a standard, ongoing part of my workflow, since leaving the images within LR removes them from the project context described above. The conundrum for me is that LR does seem to provide the best editing but is mostly catalogue-based.

Is Photoshop Elements in the ballpark?