Celebrating our declaration of independence from Great Britain made me think of the many things IT professionals have been able to declare independence from. I'm not comparing the freedom of our country to, say, enterprises' freedom from wires, but everything's relative, right?

In a slideshow, I named 10 things IT has gained freedom from (to some extent, at least):

1. Expensive storage

2. High-touch updates

3. Wires

4. Behemoth management suites

5. Server-based (only) software

6. POTS

7. Proprietary development platforms

8. Non-locked-down systems

9. Single-purpose servers

10. Low speeds

That's not to say, however, that IT pros are home-free. Rather, there are still plenty of battles to fight. These include:

1. Confusing licensing schemes: Does anyone understand Vista's licensing? Anyone?

2. Constant app patching: IT managers have told eWEEK that patching takes up more of their time than they'd like to think about--or can spare.

3. Virtual monopolies: It's seldom good for innovation--and, by extension, enterprise IT--when companies become 800-pound gorillas and start throwing their weight around.

4. Careless end users: As much as IT managers would like to think that they were free from the end user who shows no respect for corporate equipment or data, the proverbial password-ridden Post-Its are still getting stuck to monitors.

5. Non-standard standards: It's either interoperable or it isn't.

6. Products released before their time: The term "beta" gets used pretty loosely these days.

7. Malware: Sometimes it seems like the busiest people in the technology industry are the malware authors.

8. Compliance headaches: IT organizations continue to struggle to get their heads around constantly shifting regulations and the wide range of apps designed to ensure and demonstrate compliance with them.

9. Vendor FUD: Tell it like it is--please!

10: Rising energy prices: IT's declaration of independence from rising energy costs is taking the form of power-saving equipment and processes, but, with no end in sight, freedom may be just a dream.

What else does IT need to declare freedom from?