Im bored so I feel like jumpin in again. Anyways you said that in maya 6, you cant select loops or edged. Hmmm i never used maya 6 but I use 7 and you can do all those things u listed that you cant do. I have those things in my custom toolbar. Thats why I like maya because of my toolbar. I hate the dorp down menus with my custom toolbar in maya, it makes it easy for me to seelct my tool.

Like everyone says, its preference because alot of ppl say that they can model faster in max then maya. Well i use maya for school and have taken 4 classes so im using max actually more then maya yet i model 5x faster in maya all cause of my toolbar, i dont have to ever search for anything just 1 click. Anyways lol its a pointless argument i mean everyone gon have a different opinion so just choose which makes you feel more comfortable. Personally if you like max, you should give xsi a try. Its kinda like a maxture of max and maya but its real nice