[dkersten]

I used to think that 80 (or even 100) characters was too short, but I've changed my mind for two reasons:

1. Like you said, splitting windows. I now use a tiled window manager and also I use vim splits a LOT. If I can fit two windows side by side, good - if I can fit three, great!

2. I find that when my lines go over 80/100ish characters they are very hard to read anyway (too much eye travel between lines) and its usually (though admittedly not always) a sign that my code is too nested or otherwise could be simplified.

So now I happily use 80 character lines (When using Python I strictly follow the vim PEP8 checker, for example). I actually kinda prefer 80 to 100 now because I use slightly above average font sizes (I don't have the best eyesight) and this way I can still comfortably fit two editors side by side.