For me, OpenBSD is the operating system that "just works".

Windows, Mac, and a few of the more popular Linux distributions get
the the reputations of being the operating systems that "just work".
They give you pretty graphical user interfaces, support lots of
commercial software, and come either pre-installed or at least have
very simple installation procedures.

On the other hand, OpenBSD and the other *nix systems that give real
thought to server quality security and stability get the reputations
of being difficult to use, don't support all your commercial software,
might not even support all your hardware, force you to use command
lines, etc. Some people seem to think OpenBSD is just for servers.

However, it has not been my experience that Windows and Mac "just
work", and OpenBSD doesn't.

Back in the days of Windows ME, when I was a naive computer user who
just wanted to browse the internet, use word processing, dabble in
this new thing I had discovered called "programming" (at the time,
just HTML and CSS), and play the occasional game, I was not having a
fun time with my supposedly user-friendly Windows OS. It was slow,
crashing and throwing blue screens of death all the time, and worst of
all, people who were none to fond of me were finding out all sorts of
personal information I had entered into my computer.

I had an anti-virus scanner, which Windows users seem to think makes
them safe from viruses, spyware, and other unwanted software. (It
doesn't. Well, it does, but only some of the time. It doesn't protect
you against zero-day exploits. It doesn't protect you against obscure
exploits your AV provider hasn't noticed. It doesn't protect you
against parental control spyware, which is whitelisted -- yes, the
licenses on those things say you're only allowed to install them on
your own computer, but there's no enforcement of that, and some of
them even offer remote installation, supposedly so that you can
install it on your kid's computer even after s/he has left for
college... but of course, you could use them just as easily against
your personal nemesis. It doesn't protect you from someone with
cracking skills who decides to write a unique piece of spyware just to
use on you, or someone who can afford to hire such a person.) I did
not open attachments in unsolicited e-mail. I did not visit obviously
shady websites (e.g. adult content, illegal stuff, etc.) Someone had
even gotten me to switch to Firefox. I wasn't a security expert by any
means, but I did follow the same basic precautions I continue to hear
people tell to Windows users concerned about security.

So it turns out I had this spyware. None of the AVs detected it.
However, I did see a suspicious process running, looked it up, and
found out what it was online. I had to boot into Safe Mode to remove
it. Then there was another one. Keylogger, screenshot-taker... a nasty
piece of work. Kept crashing my computer. None of the major AVs I
tried detected it. I couldn't find anything suspicious on the list of
running processes. Eventually, I detected it with one of the really
obscure independent malware scanners. Even then, it could only tell me
it was, not actually remove it. Nothing seemed able to remove.
Couldn't remove it from Safe Mode, either. Couldn't find directions to
remove it. Re-installing removed it, but like the cat, it just kept
coming back.

I tried a Mac, but ultimately had the same problem, without all the crashing.

So this whole computer thing really wasn't working out for me after
all. I had to switch to paper based operations in order to keep my
private data private, or even just be able to finish a document before
a blue screen of death appeared, because Windows and Mac *just didn't
work*. I was faced with the arduous task of becoming an expert in
discovering, removing, and preventing malicious software, without the
help of the incompetent AVs, if I wanted to use the internet for
anything that involved entering a password or anything personal like
that.

Then someone told me about Linux. And rather than worrying about how
hard it might be to learn another operating system, I thought,
Hallelujah! I might actually be able to use my computer again.
Because, like I said before, Windows and Mac *just didn't work*.

 So I researched different Linux distributions, and I found out there
were also these things called BSDs which apparently did not count as
Linux. And apparently, out of all the Linuxes and BSDs, OpenBSD was
supposed to be the most secure. And the OpenBSD website had all these
comforting things on it like "secure by default". Alright, looking
back on it, it might've been overkill. Debian might not be as secure
as OpenBSD, but it might've been secure enough to deter people who had
grudges against me. But you see, I was feeling paranoid. I wanted to
spend time on my computer browsing the web and writing text documents,
not fighting spyware.

The OpenBSD installation manual looked pretty complicated to someone
without a background in command line usage, so I printed it out and
hoped it would make more sense when I actually had the installation
screen in front of me. I was in luck: it did. Made it through, but I
failed at partitioning so it didn't boot. Annoyed the mailing list
with my lack of understanding of how this new thing called
partitioning works, tried again, got it working, except OpenBSD didn't
like all of my hardware. So I traded my computer for an older, slower
one.

And Hallelujah! OpenBSD works, with far less time, effort, and grief
than I had already spent trying to make Windows work. Of course, it
took a some time and reading to get XFree86, Firefox, and a word
processor all working. And look, OpenBSD is fast! Even though I was
using a slower computer, hardware-wise, OpenBSD more than made up the
difference... by several orders of magnitude. And there was this
awesome new thing called vim that could save my data up to my last
keystroke even in the event of power failure! (Because I didn't have a
UPS back then.)

Now, all operating systems have their uses, but I don't fully
understand what people mean when they say Windows "just works". Sure,
it "just works" when you first boot it up. But if you just rely on AVs
and Windows Updates to protect you, and often even if you take
stronger security measures, sooner or later, it has a tendency of not
working any more. They say Windows 7 is more secure than previous
versions, but even if that's so, that hasn't stopped my friends from
asking me to fix their not working Windows 7 computers. Which I do,
even though I think the best way to secure a Windows box is to
disconnect it from the internet and encrypt it, because even though I
think it's silly of them to expect Windows 7 to "just work", and then,
rather than replace it when it proves otherwise, insist that I restore
it to a working state, they're my friends and I care about them. And
then I try to lock it down as best I can without making things too
user unfriendly for them, which might delay the inevitable moment when
they come and ask me to fix it again. Consequently, much of what I
know about Windows security comes from trying to find the Windows
equivalents of BSD features. The Windows equivalents are never as
good.

It's not that other operating systems aren't useful in their own ways,
but if you like keeping your financial data private, OpenBSD is for
you. If you like keeping your legal documents private, OpenBSD is for
you. If you like keeping your medical information private, OpenBSD is
for you. If you like keeping all your personal e-mails and other
computer communications private, OpenBSD is for you. If you like
working on various text documents and whatnot without having to worry
about missing deadlines just because your operating system said to
itself, "Today is a good day to break" and proceeded to do so, OpenBSD
is a good choice. If you want to be a political activist and not have
to worry about one of the more tech-savvy or rich people you pissed
off helping themselves to your private data, OpenBSD is for you. If
you like to take chances with these things, then who am I to say
what's for you? If your employer requires you to run certain
commercial applications, you probably won't be able to stick to
OpenBSD exclusively. If you need to run Photoshop, Rosetta Stone, or
other commercial applications, you probably won't be able to stick to
OpenBSD exclusively. (Alright, so I do multiboot, but OpenBSD is for
the important stuff. Mac is for learning German, but if Mac breaks, it
can wait. OpenBSD's still there.) If you really want to play fancy
commercial 3D graphics games, you probably won't be able to stick to
OpenBSD exclusively. If you hate command lines with a passion, OpenBSD
probably isn't for you. If you absolutely have to run Microsoft
Office, because compatibility with everyone else is more important
than things like confidentiality, OpenBSD might not be for you.

So, I think OpenBSD tops the list of operating systems that "just
work". The only thing I really wish for is more encryption options for
softraid.

Sincerely,
A happy OpenBSD user