Last time I used ML was with version 8.2. I first went to Mandrake for its reputation as being a user friendly distribution. Jumped to RedHat when they came out with the simplified BlueCurve desktop and anti-aliased fonts. With the support for RedHat 9 expiring, I jumped back into Mandrake 10 and found out it had most of the things I went to RedHat for, plus a few things like Supermount, which is working well for me.
I can see why Mandrake has not been able to make the same waves RedHat has. I would have to put it to "quality control". Despite efforts, I cannot get 3D Acceleration with my ATI card. I think I need to use a different Kernel version to get it to work. I cannot watch VCD which use to work fine with RedHat and Xine. The other day I tried to install the Gnome desktop (from the OE CD's) and got an error during the install. Also I cannot seem to play a Region 3 DVD (not sure if I could do this with RedHat).
In the end... I am happy with it, a few minor problems for me considering I still dual boot with Windows. But for most homeusers the problems I outlined would be show stoppers and back to Windows they would go.
Maybe Mandrake should let the other distro's go forward and be cutting edge and iron out what they already have? A bit short of the mark for the home desktop. To be fair, so was RedHat, but we do knwo that they are not targetting the home desktop.