Admin Rights for Developers

Just want to make clear right off the bat that I am a developer and as such, my point of view is probably quite different from yours.

Developers are not end users and should not be treated as such. As IT professionals, we understand things like security, system configuration, etc. At my current job, I've had to deal with a net admin that has completely locked down the network almost to the point of unusability (is that a word? :-) ). I had to fight to get admin rights to my workstation, which is the "development machine". This went all the way up to the executive v.p. He called in outside consultants who basically verified everything I had been saying. I was given admin rights to my local machine, allowing me to install my software for testing.

My point is this, how can a developer expect to test the software that they are writing if they can't even install it on a test machine? How will they test it properly with different settings, etc.? Jeez, it's not as if they are asking for the "keys to the kingdom" or your fiefdom. It's a DEVELOPMENT server, for crying out loud. Aren't you all working for the same company? Why not work as a team rather than taking the adversarial approach?