ysvry - This is by far the best argument against having different skins for Blender that I have seen.  Usually they're based on the notion that because Blender is "better," having skins would be "worse."  This is basically a circular argument.

Your argument on the other hand, is quite valid.  If user "A" and user "B" are each using different skins, then it does become difficult for those users to discuss how to do something.

On the other hand, if user "B" is coming from 3dsmax and can put Blender into a mode where its UI is a reasonably close approximation of 3dsmax's interface, then he may not need to bother user "A" to ask how to do stuff.

All in all, I think having a good skinning system would be advantageous.  By good, I mean something where all of the following are true:

1. Any user can quickly figure out how to modify the skin to their liking.
2. Skins can be easily saved and shared. (XML doc with buttons and such embedded?)
3. Switching between skins is made as easy as possible, i.e., no re-start of Blender required.
4. Standard skins cannot be modified in the UI, other than by saving a copy.  This means any user can quickly revert to one of the standard skins if they screw up their customized one.

#3 is especially important to mitigate the costs imposed by your argument.  A tutorial could easily say "this tutorial written for the standard Blender skin...", and somebody following the tutorial would choose that skin before starting.

Another advantage of #3 would be for professional users transitioning.  If you're a Max user making the switch, you don't have time to learn how Blender's UI works, except perhaps as an on-the-job self-training exercise.  So you can switch over to standard Blender, try to do stuff, and when your deadline starts to loom, just switch back to the MaxClone skin.

I believe that if serious effort were put into providing the ability to make Blender feel like other apps, it would start to gain a much stronger following.  Removing barriers to entry is quite important, even if those barriers are purely psychological and educational.

Quote - I don't know about the Max interface, never tried it...has anyone else?  Is it any good?

It's very different from Blender, and much more "Windows-ish."  I.e., lots of buttons, very mouse-oriented, although there are a bunch of hotkeys available, it invites newbies to experiment with its buttons where Blender's interface is IMHO more intimidating because it looks so different from everything else in Windows.  I'm not saying Blender is worse - in fact, I prefer it, but it definitely has a steeper learning curve.

The main thing 3dsmax has that I miss in Blender is parametric modeling.  Want a staircase?  Grab a staircase plug-in and tell it how many steps.  Want a box that twists?  Add a box, then put a twist modifier on it.  Want to change the amount of twist?  Select the twist modifier, and change the amount.

Quote - I don't know if this will help, but we host a set of Blender tutorials designed for complete newbies.  It covers how to do the same things in two of the apps you mention and in Blender.  Might be helpful in comparing concepts.

I just realised that I told you about our tuts but didn't tell you where they are... D'oh!

3D tutorials

I guess I got too excited in promoting skinning of Blender :-)

I don't know if this will help, but we host a set of Blender tutorials designed for complete newbies.  It covers how to do the same things in two of the apps you mention and in Blender.  Might be helpful in comparing concepts.

It's weird to me that people disagree with re-skinning blender.  Anything that can be done to make the transition easier for users of other applications is a Good Thing in my book.  I view it as a shame that more development effort isn't put into doing stuff like this, or at least into making it easier for others to "re-skin" Blender.

Why shouldn't Blender come with a LightWave skin, a Maya skin, heck even a Bryce skin?  Of course, there should always be a Good Ol' "Normal Blender" skin - after all, you don't want to alienate your existing user base by turning the software into a clone of other apps!

I can't speak for oodmb, but it looks to me like a lot of the arguments against it are along the lines of "Blender's better - why bother changing?"  This is kind of like the arguments I often hear against WINE: "Linux is better, why do we need WINE?"  The answer in both cases is simple: expecting people to morph to fit the computer is nonproductive.  If you want people to use your system over a competitive one, you have to make it as easy for them as possible.  If somebody has a lot of Windows software, they should be able to run it, unchanged, under Linux.  If somebody has a lot of 3dsmax experience, they should be able to use it, with as little re-learning as possible, under Linux.  There's a lot more people that have used other 3D packages than use Blender.  Why not leverage their collective knowledge?