This is standard, especially when the size of the company grows. Actually, Microsoft might be a rare exception. Extensions are full of malware of various sorts

This is standard, especially when the size of the company grows. Actually, Microsoft might be a rare exception. Extensions are full of malware of various sorts, so it makes sense that they take them away. Allow list vs. block list makes sense as a block list is impractical to maintain. Only thing you can do is complain to management and prove with real #s how this is impacting productivity. But if you're a webdev, it's super unlikely today that you need local admin and cannot work within an allow list of applications. If you're a driver dev, sure I can see how it might be a blocker.