Why do people prefer softimage over maya of 3smax, or vice versa?
Well until just recently, it was a hell of a lot cheaper. The $600 version of Softimage had all you needed for game development, whereas 3dsMax is three and a half grand, but I gather that the entry level version of Softimage has been cancelled as of the next version, so it will probably wane.
EDIT: I had the price wrong. It was $600, not $500.