Did The EU Actually Lose The Browser Battle?

Will the ban on bundling IE8 with Windows 7 in the EU translate into massive numbers of frustrated users wondering how they are to surf the net? Does sound this way at first, until you dig a big deeper to discover that despite the EU’s chest pounding, browsers will be installed by default by the OEMs regardless of what the EU thinks.

Yes folks, the EU spent all of that time and money to get IE8 banned from Windows only to find that they will be trumped by what is thought to be IE8 CDs plopped into your bag with your local PC purchase or just installed by default or as a package, buy your HP, Dell, etc OEMs.

At the end of the day, I really am unclear as to what has been resolved here for both the EU or Microsoft for that matter? Clearly, the browser will be as predominant as always and I just really doubt there will be any Firefox CDs or inserts from OEMs in response.