WOW Bryan - seems you went over to the DARK SIDE Many years ago!!!
It's an old joke - of Max vs. Maya. Hell - around the time Autodesk bought up Maya - people were saying - "Are they gonna merge Max w/Maya - to create a Single product called Mayax???"
I actually did a class in Maya - around 1.0 release - at the NYU CADA Center in NYC. It was indeed interesting - and fun. But I found Maya more complicated than Max. I've been using Max since 3DS for DOS 1.0 in 1990. First taught a 3D CG Class at Pratt Inst. in 1996 - which was Intro. to Anim. using 3DS for DOS 4.0 release. But, alas - next semester - they switched to Max - and I had to ramp up FAST! So - That's when I first bought a license of Max. My then boss, where I worked as a contractor/consultant programmer at a Mid-sized account firm in NYC (I re-wrote the front end of a database system that tracked all employees of Bloomberg worldwide) - and my manager was like - WTF? - you're going to purchase a $3K SW package - and you don't even run a 3D Design Biz!?!?!?
That was a VERY Funny talk back then -- He really was shocked!
Too bad 3D Printing hit the scene AFTER I had completed my teaching work at Fashion Inst. of Tech. in NYC - which ended in 2008. Otherwise - I would LOVED to have introduced a course to the school in 3D Printing and DFAM!!!
-K