The severe issues that affected Win 10 users mostly started with the 17** versions up until the very latest 1809, and depend on the hardware and edition, with WUpdate failing several steps on smaller storage units like those 32GB eMMC and getting them stuck in an indefinite loop trying to download and install, and the manual solutions weren't so simple that anyone could do it without help, I've seen many laptops experiencing this past year including mine and those of people around me.
Microsoft failed to fix it and bring efficient support, instead afaik they are now discussing forbidding the sale of OEM licenses along with those unfit units.
As far as it went I've witnessed quite a lot of people ending up blocking the updates by activating the limited connectivity option, so they are still using 17**.
Enterprise, Education and computers fitting the REAL minimum hardware requirements were not affected by the WUpdate fiasco (edit: well maybe still so assuming some low end units were sold with those pro editions, but I haven't seen any offers that shameful yet. the business is vast though, who knows what some shops and suppliers might bundle and sell even to businesses whihout a care?)
Latest which is all over the news is 1809 basically clearing the user's files during the update, which must be their biggest failure so far legally speaking, they've stopped deploying it after a day or two in order to fix it. If you were in a scheduled deployment zone at the time you could basically lose all your files.
Glad I waited, I always do now since I have a family edition, before switching back the limited connectivity switch (yeah of course I use it too, I don't trust them anymore)
Leaving that aside 1809 is smaller and no longer fails some of the update and install steps, it isn't nearly as bad as 1709 and 1803, looks like M learned their lesson, but that doesn't excuse the fact that they sucked massively at their most essential job and their Win 10 product policy is crap.
So that's how it happened, for millions of people for about a year Win 10 has been a nightmare, making their computer unusable and unsafe, I've experienced and witnessed it around me quite a bit...
...and of course for millions of other users of unconcerned editions and hardware, nothing special happened, they were mostly unaware and satisfied, which is understandable.
I agree that - after turning off most of the craploads of intrusive telemetry ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- spying on you like it's a mobile OS - it's a pretty smooth and lightweight experience, no reason why the popular applications wouldn't work well on it.
On the emulation side, it's only a number of things getting in the way, but as far as I've seen hardly anything that will stop the emu dev Wizards if we are patient.