I worked at a place like this and we had a software registry, where if you had installed something and it wasn't on the registry somebody would start sending you nasty emails. This kind of thing would happen all the time: maybe the Linux machines weren't in the scans, or anything that came with the OS was whitelisted.
But if you wanted to install it separately on a computer that didn't have it already, then you'd need to get it “approved.”
if the computer is provided for work, by the company you work for, it is not "yours"
limitations on what you can install on such machines can be quite draconian, including forbidding anything that IT Security and similar departments may not like.
I meant the work laptop you are given through working as a SWE. Are you referring to jobs in IT?
And are you allowed to use your own personal computer (laptop)?
If not, and you have to work on what you have been given, why are people OK with it[1]? In the case of IT jobs?
I cannot imagine being productive without my OS, WM, IDE, configurations and whatnot.
I did work on a desktop in an office before, using their software and it was awful. I could have automated the whole damn thing at home. It was the tax office and obviously I understand why I cannot use their software at home, but for an IT job?
[1] Stupid question, people tolerate much more than this, incl. not getting paid for overtime, being worked to death without a break every day of the week, etc.
But if you wanted to install it separately on a computer that didn't have it already, then you'd need to get it “approved.”