MAx's interface is not that bad... it is definetively not as good as MAYA's but it has its pros and cons.
Actually one thing that MAYA's interface appears to lack is the ability to "float" the channel box like you can in MAX.
This is particularly helpful if you have a dual monitor setup, so that the line dividing the viewports is between the two monitors.

I also have a separate question:
How come when you try to extrude faces from appended polygons the extruded result is missing a face?