Skype and Mandriva (publisher of Mandriva Linux operating system) today announced that Skype will come included with the Mandriva Linux distro. According to Candace Locklear over at SparkPR, "Mandriva's Linux 2006 is the first and only Linux operating system to offer out-of-the-box use of Skype's popular application." I guess it's nice to have Skype embedded with the Linux distro, but most Linux users can just as easily go download and install Skype themselves. Besides, there might be a newer version. Nevertheless, one of the reasons Internet Explorer succeeded was that it was pre-installed with every shipping copy of Windows. So in the coming war of the VoIP softphone clients (Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, Skype, Gizmo, SIPPhone, etc.) it can't hurt to be pre-installed with the operating system. Maybe with Google's deep pockets, they'll be talking to RedHat, Xandros, and all the other Linux distros to embed GoogleTalk?