Is this going to screw the companies who sell backup software? If so, is that a bad thing? 

http://www.apple.com/macosx/leopard/timemachine.html

Just connect an external drive and the computer asks you if you want to use the drive for automated, incremental backups?

Downside: "Cutie" visual interface for "traveling back in time" in any of your directories...

Would be nice if you didn't have to use a HFS formated drive for it to work.  I would like to set it up on a network drive, along with Windows and Linux files.

I don't think it will hurt backup companies since Time Machine is geared towards home users. Companies have to use backup servers and sometimes offsite servers which obviously won't work with Time Machine.

I don't think it will hurt backup companies since Time Machine is geared towards home users.

Good point.

After I posted, I read an article directly related to this - posted the same day:
http://www.macworld.com/news/2006/08/10/developeranalysis/index.php

Such is the nature of third-party software: meet an unfulfilled need with your software one day, watch that same need get addressed by an operating system update the next.

Reminds me of the old Doonesbury cartoon about the guy who made a bundle off of selling startups to Microsoft...