3dsmax users need quick and easy ways to render out particles and splines without the need to apply geometry to the objects.
Many other software packages already feature dedicated hair or spline shaders you can apply to splines and have them render without the need to turn them into geometry. Lack of geometry speeds up both viewport and output rendering.
The same thing with particles. For example, in Cinema4d if you use the X-Particles plugin, there is a shader where particles will render as 2d dots without the need to apply geometry to each particle for them to become visible. This also speeds up viewport and output rendering.
3dsmax features the Hair And Fur effect which can render 2d hair, but it's limited to hair objects only, and material settings are kept within the Hair And Fur modifier, not as an actual material.
It would be much easier if there was a dedicated Hair/Spline shader for this that can be applied to both splines and Hair And Fur objects.
Spline ShaderParticle Shader