Yahhhh... Sigh. I run into this silly argument or comparison made by the uneducated and the lazy from time to time. I'm a Lightwave and Rhino user who also enjoys using Bryce. I agree... Its just a tool and I think its a darn good one at that. If you put the effort in you can get masterful work from either 3D Studio Max or Bryce. Don't put the effort in and you get crap from both. All you can do is try and politely correct those with the miss conception and ask them what the heck they are doing comparing Bryce to Max in the first place. Sometimes they'll listen and sometimes they won't. As you say... The type of work that each is geared toward producing is so different that comparing them is just plain silly.