http://wired.com/news/business/0,1367,45897,00.html McAfee.com has won a patent for its system of delivering security-related software and services over the Internet, giving it a potential leg up in the emerging trend of subscription-based software. The patent, issued July 24 by the U.S. Patent Office, covers the technology behind McAfee's system, what co-inventor Srivats Sampath calls the company's "secret sauce," as well as its subscription-based business model, the company said Monday. McAfee applied for the patent in 1998. "The future of software is really going to be delivered as Web services and we have a component of that," said Sampath, McAfee's president and chief executive officer. "The patent is a way to protect our investment." "This doesn't close the door for competitors, it simply sets some boundaries for them," said Harry Fenik, chief executive officer of the Sageza Group, a market research firm. Now, any company or so-called application service provider looking to offer subscription- and Web-based software specifically in the security and PC-management arena "will have to tread carefully" to not infringe on McAfee's patent, or decide to pay McAfee licensing fees, Fenik said.