Actually it is 256, see File System Functionality Comparison, Limits.
To repeat a post on http://fixunix.com/microsoft-windows/30758-windows-xp-file-name-length-limit.html
"Assuming we're talking about NTFS and not FAT32, the "255 characters for path+file" is a limitation of Explorer, not the filesystem itself. NTFS supports paths up to 32,000 Unicode characters long, with each component up to 255 characters.
Explorer -and the Windows API- limits you to 260 characters for the path, which include drive letter, colon, separating slashes and a terminating null character. It's possible to read a longer path in Windows if you start it with a
\\
"
If you read the above posts you'll see there is a 5th thing you can be certain of: Finding at least one obstinate computer user!