Yes, it surely isn't nice to see one of the older Linux distributors likely gone but honestly... I cannot think of a single unique or outstanding feature that mandrake could offer back in the day and by now, desktop-linux is firmly in the hands of ubuntu and redhat. The last significant or even non-significant news I have heard or read about mandriva or mandrake must have been years if not a whole decade ago. I am actually surprised to learn now that they are still around and I am from Europe.
My facetious side thinks its sole reason for existence was that it was from France and offered French language so French people were probably more likely to use or buy mandrake than Redhat or SuSE or slackware.