Goobers or Raisinettes?

As a species, we seem destined for division. Goobers versus Raisinettes, Republican versus Democrat, Mac versus PC, Max versus Maya...

Its this last one that I find coming into play more and more often (not that the others aren't worthy of discussion...). I teach at one of the online Universities and I have students that come through with just this question.

I had the blessed fortune to be able to lay hands on the Maya beta back when Alias and AutoCad were the Big Dogs and everything was done on Irix workstations.  Aas such, Maya will always have a place in my arsenal.

However in terms of actual employment, I have been required to use Max at every turn. I keep hearing from students that Maya is the new top of the heap, but I'm still not seeing it happen on my end so much. They are still both *excellent* programs.

Despite the tools that have been duplicated between them, they still turn out art with a distinctive look, Maya stuff tends to look Maya-ish, Max stuff tends to look more Max-esque.

I am looking to see what everyone out there uses most often in there creation of 3d, not what you like to use, but what do you find yourself working with again and again? Freelancers, AD's, Leads, Junior artists?

I mean, I can see what comes across *my* table, but I think I am only seeing a teeny weeny cross-section of the art generation pipeline out there. I'm wondering if I'm standing on the brink of a genuine revolution, about to watch it pass me by, or if this is the same sort of wishful thinking engendered by the fans of *any* piece of software.