This change is minor in the overall scheme, but it is the latest example a recurring pattern of removing/changing a user option without particularly good reason, and without communicating the change to the end user.

I totally understand the decisions, not options philosophy; but once the decision has been made to provide the end user an option, that option should be treated as - if not sacrosanct, at least important enough that a later decision to remove that option must have a very, very good reason.

The number and width of columns in the dashboard are a simple matter of CSS. There's absolutely no reason that the dashboard can't accommodate both a responsive design and the user configuration of number of columns. (How about: simply rename "Number of Columns" to "Max Number of Columns", and an explanation that number of columns depends on available width? Most people are now familiar with layout changes caused by responsive design, and would not be caught off-guard by multiple columns reducing to a single column on smaller screens.)

But even if there were a very, very good - and valid - reason to remove a user option, users shouldn't have to find out about that change by happenstance. This change wasn't communicated (at least as far as I noticed - and I do try to keep up with version-to-version changes.)