ForceFields in Maya are really well developed. They are bringing the ability to create wide range of per-point interactions - between particles from a single particleShape, between particles from different particleShapes, or particles interacting with any geometry points ( verticies, CV's, etc ... ).

Let's see how it works:

Create a polygonal sphere and turn it to softBody ( use the option "Make Soft" - in case you want to fallow the exact steps ot this tutorial ).
Create a particle emitter, offset it on Z axis, set it to "Directional", set "Direction Z" to -1, set "Speed" to 3, "Speed Random" to 0.5 and "Spread" to 0.1.

Apply radialField to the softBody particles ( i will call it radialField_softBody ) and another one to the particles emitted by the particle emitter ( let's call it radialField_particles ). For both radialFields set the "Max Distance" value to 0.75 and turn on "Apply Per Vertex".

Now here is the important part:
Select radialField_softBody and the particleShape emitted by the particle emitter. Then use the command "Use Selected As Source of Field" inside the "Fields" drop-down menu.
Do the same with radialField_particles and the softBody particles.
By default Maya parents the forceFields under the objects used used as source for them and links their translate attributes. Dissconnect their attributes and move them outside the "action" area.

At this point you are ready to go - click on the left image to see the result in motion.
Keep in mind that all the attributes of the forceFields are accessible on PP level ( read the Maya Help for more information ).
The "Volume Shape" attributes of the forceFields should be set to "None".

In addition you can try and this: turn the sphere to a non-dynamic object and use it as source of the radialField_blendShape, i.e. - delete the softBody particles, and reapply the radialField to sphere's shape.
This is a some kind of bridge between this and the next tutorial below.

HERE is the example scene.

There is a cheap way to make fluid dynamic goals using forceFields ( in most cases radial and newton ones will be enough ).

Basically you need to do pretty mutch the same as in the previous tutorial, but this time with fluids - select the fluidContainer and apply to it newton and radial forceFields. Then use some object as source for them.
The new thing here is that you need to find a good balance between number of points of the object used as source for the forceFields, "Max Distance" and "Magnitude" values of both fields, fluid's "Damp" value and solver quality.

Click on the left image to see the results by this simple technique - the curve sucks fluid mass, drags and pushes it along it's treactory of motion ... and that's dynamic goals :)

HERE is the example scene: you will need Maya 7 to run the simulaion properly. I believe that 6.5 and early versions can do it too, but you will need to increase the resolution of the fluidContainer.