Okay. I did some testing. You were right and I was wrong, but there is a specific set of conditions under which it happens.
It is broken. However, the Columns only get wacky if the View in question is a Category-Style View, with Tree Browsing enabled. If it is a Panes Style view, it works "right" (the columns for the View are
the columns for the View, whether you're using Tree Browsing or Panes, or whatever).
But, if you do have a View that uses both Categories and Tree Browsing, then it... Acts crazy:
* The column sets for the file lists inside the Categories are independent from the ones in the Tree Browsing items.
* If you alter the column sets for the "top" of the View (looking at the categories), then it "resets" the columns for the Tree Browsing items back to the default set.
* You can fix the ones under the Tree Browsing items, and it sticks, but remains independent of the "top" of the View.
* But, if you change the top of the View again, manually (again, presets don't cause this), then it again "resets" the changes you made to your Tree Browsing column set back to the defaults.
It is
busted. It should work just like the Panes. The column-set for the View is the column set for the View, and it doesn't matter if you're Tree Browsing or using the Categories, they always match.
But in that specific circumstance, it is busted. There have been a bunch of column-set related issues we've been playing whack-a-mole with, and I guess this is another one. I would have never noticed because I don't use Tree Browsing for any Category-style Views at all.
I made a demo screencast:
https://vimeo.com/127331399