but applying those patches does not interfere with operation of the machine. The update can be installed at any time, restarting the application or the whole machine can be done at any time.

This isn't always true. Kernel updates require reboots and those are as equally important when it comes to security. There are tons of systems that get hacked in this way, people update the software without rebooting and suddenly they're running a 4 year old kernel that is exploitable in some way and they thing they're secure.

Also you don't seem to have experience with LTSB and what and how updates are done. Long story short: security and very critical updates only reboots aren't required as often as with regular Windows Pro/Home/Enterprise nor they're are surprise updates randomly rebooting things. Your admin will control everything how it happens and when.

When it comes to Windows the reboots are usually require reboots are feature updates and other non essential stuff. Apart from those situations similar to the Linux kernel it won't require a reboot.