When sysctl vm.panic_on_oom = 1, the kernel panics intead of killing rogue
processes. And if vm.panic_on_oom is 0 the kernel will do oom_kill() in
the same way as it does today. Of course, the default value is 0 and only
root can modifies it.
In general, oom_killer works well and kill rogue processes. So the whole
system can survive. But there are environments where panic is preferable
rather than kill some processes.