scroll-(down|up) but stay on the same column

[Deniz Dogan]

Lately, it has been bothering me that when I hit C-v or M-v point is
moved to the first column of the target line. I don't have the C
source code at hand and my C-fu is probably too weak anyways, so is
there any built-in command which does the equivalent of
scroll-(down|up) but tries to keep point at the same column or should
I craft one myself?

And what is the rationale behind having point move to the first column
when scrolling?

Thanks,
Deniz Dogan