As Microsoft's antitrust trial approaches the finish line, some are calling the browser war that sparked it all but over. But the purported winner insists it has not won, and the loser claims it isn't fighting. Neither assessment is exactly right. America Online and Microsoft's public statements on the browser war appear to have more to do with legal and market posturing than the reality of the competitive landscape. Microsoft's courtroom arguments that competition is alive and well in the desktop PC browser market are essential to its antitrust defense. And AOL's stated disinterest in the browser it inherited through its acquisition of Netscape Communications reflects its disinclination to be associated with the crushing loss Netscape suffered at Microsoft's hands. That concern about public perception is rooted in some bottom-line realities. Wall Street tends to punish any company seen to be on the losing side of a battle with Microsoft.