For most people, the challenge in getting a Mac is how they can run their Windows applications. However I've been using Linux (originally Debian and then Ubuntu LTS) as my desktop for the last 10 years, and never used Windows as my primary desktop (I used OS/2 prior to Linux, and DOS/Desqview prior to that), so I don't have that problem. (I have very few Windows applications, and the vast majority I've not used in years. I was using wine to run a few applications at my previous job but don't even have that need now.)

The vast majority of the Linux programs that I use are both open source and available on the Mac via MacPorts (which I'd already installed). So most things I need are available natively, or with a bit of effort can be installed to run natively.

However much of my programming is under Linux, and so I still need a way to run various versions of Linux on my laptop for development and testing purposes. The solution there is to install one of the virtual machine technologies available for Mac OS X: VMWare Fusion (wikipedia page) or Parallels Desktop for the Mac (wikipedia page). From the Wikipedia comparision page it appeared that VMWare Fusion was the better choice for my use, since Parallels -- while apparently faster at least prior to the just released VMWare Fusion 3 -- appears to have less support for running Linux in a virtual machine. (Unfortunately this means that I miss out on Parallels iPhone control application, but for my usage in development/testing it's probably not a big deal.) VMWare Fusion will also run "Virtual Appliances" built for other VMWare versions which could be useful to me. (And I've used VMWare before, so expect to be familiar with the way it works.)

So I bought VMWare Fusion 3, which was released today. (Fortunately having serendipitiously waited just long enough to avoid having bought the old version and having to apply for the free upgrade for purchases between 2009-10-01 and 2009-11-30.)

Installation "just worked", including installing a 64-bit version of Debian Lenny and the VMWare Tools (for once it even had pre-built VMWare Tools for Debian Lenny, 32-bit and 64-bit, rather than having to install a compiler and build from source).