ThomasH,
The general MISCONCEPTION people have about any FE software is that,
1. FE softwares are softwares that could analyse plate/shell and solid elements alone. In addition, these software also presents 'colourful' plots.
2. Most of simple 'beam' or spaceframe softwares are not FE softwares.
I agree on what you say that "they dont compare", and in fact, I never disputed this. Both you and hondaknight1 have given a good presentation on the major differences between these 2 softwares, so i do not want to comment further. But this is not the basis of my argument.
Now, my comment was only a response on your statement that reads "Staad.pro is not a FEM - software in the general sense". Should you have said that Staad is 'simpler FE software compared to Ansys' or anything like that, then i wouldn't have placed my comments.
Cheers people!
Yugabalan K