If I got your question right you have to add a Stencil Info to your shading network (right click in the Hypershade background Create > General Utilities > Sampler Info) which you'll use to find out how much a pixel is facing the cam, a Ramp (Create > 2d Textures > Ramp) which you'll use to assign a color and/or transparency accordingly to the facing ratio. Now you have to make some connections:
- sampler info's facing ratio to ramp's V Coord (you'll have to use the others... option to see these attributes)
- ramp's outColor to your shader's color
AND / OR
- ramp's outColorR to your shader's transparecnyR,
- ramp's outColorG to your shader's transparencyG
- ramp's outColorB to your shader's transparencyB
depending on you wanting to do like max does (the latter) or not.

You may be thinking this "procedure" is complicated and when compared to the max one, it is. But as everything in Maya, this approach is far core flexible. You can easily "noisify" the facing ratio data or something like that...

p.s. - I guess you guys know an easier/better way to do it. If so please share it will me