So is this why they took away Time Machine backing up to a USB drive plugged into Airport Base Station? So they could sell their own integrated solution?

Fine, whatever. Capitalism sucks sometimes.

It's not clear whether Time Machine will be updated to allow backups to current Extreme users with USB drives. If not, then Apple had better think hard about it. Like many Leopard buyers, I bought the Extreme and a USB drive for Time Machine, and was disappointed that it didn't work together. If Apple thinks I am willing to ditch my investment for another Apple device, they have another thing coming.

Please Apple, say it won't be so.

Wow, you switcheurs sure are a grumpy bunch, nothing is ever good enough.

Yeah, people. Just because Apple advertised Leopard as being able to back up via time machine to an air disk, and you went out and bought that, that's not reason to complain.

It's not bad. It's a wireless router and hard disk in one. Sure, it's probably not upgradeable, but most externals aren't sold that way.

Have a little patience. When Time Capsule ships (February) there very well could be a software update that adds the same wireless functionality to Airport Extreme. The rumor has been that Apple ran into technical problems with wireless Time Machine, and that's why it seems to have disappeared. Hopefully it's fixed, and an update on the way. We'll see.

I'm dissatisfied with Apple's decision to pawn off their Time Capsule product as a solution for MacBook users using Time Machine over a WIFI network. They should be fixing the Time Machine bug that doesn't allow it to see networked hard drives connected to the Airport Extreme Base Station. It makes no sense for customers to waist their money purchasing Time Capsule since if it breaks down they'll temporarily lose access to a router and external back up drive since it's touted as an all in one solution. After all it doesn't allow one to easily swap the drive if it or the router fails. Obviously the genius at Apple who designed this product didn't take device failure into account.

There is an alternate solution for accessing a networked hard drive over a WLAN (WIFI) which is free and that's iTimeMachine found here http://www.xiotios.com/itimemachine.html