Microsoft Windows Vista and Office 2007 only just went gold, and it seems their anti-piracy measures have already been cracked.

Various pirate websites have a version of Vista available to download, called “Vista BillGates”. It comes supplied with a product key, allowing users to install the operating system on their computers unhindered.

A second patch – a separate download, called an “activation crack” – must also be applied. This bypasses the activation process used by Vista to ensure that each installation is legitimate.

The same pirate sites also have Office 2007 Enterprise editions available for download. Users simply need to enter a supplied product key, since this version of Office does not require product activation.

Vista and Office 2007 went gold only last week, meaning that the code for their initial release has been finalised and released to manufacturing.

Mass-licence or business users of Vista will be able to buy a copy from November 30, while the release of the consumer edition is scheduled for January 30 next year.

Microsoft declined comment for this story, but if history has any say in it, they are “working on it”. I’m sure they’ll be wanting to stamp out the piracy of its products fairly quickly.