Windows update actually provides sensible control over when and how to supply updates since I think Windows 2000 (definitely was there by vista time). You just need to use it.
It was degrading since Windows 2000, with Microsoft steadily removing and patching up any clever workarounds people came with to prevent the system from automatically rebooting. The pinnacle of that, an insult added to injury, was introduction of "active hours" - a period of, initially, at most 8 or 10 hours, designated as the only time in the day your system would not reboot due to updates. Sucks if your computer isn't an office machine only ever used 9-to-5.
No, it was not degrading - Windows 10 introduced forced updating in home editions because it was weighed to be better for general cases (that it got abused later is separate issue).
The assumption is that "pros" and "enterprise" either know how to use provided controls or have WSUS server setup which takes over all of scheduling updates.
