Why is the Windows cmd.exe limited to 80 characters wide?

Question

I love stretching my terminal on unix. What is the history or reason behind windows lame command line?

Answer 1

You could also use a different terminal application, such as Console2, which allows you to resize the window all you want (among other things, such as transparency, and the ability to use any font you'd like). It's a great application, I've switched to it and now I only use cmd.exe when I absolutely have to.