In an amusing twist that undoubtedly spells the end of some hapless manager’s career, Microsoft has accidentally gifted pirates with a free, fully-functioning Windows 8 license key. If you so desire, it is now possible to activate Windows 8 Pro for free, using a legitimate key provided by Microsoft itself.

As you have probably surmised, this isn’t intentional — Microsoft hasn’t suddenly decided to give pirates an early Christmas present (though the $40 upgrade deal from Windows 8 Release Preview is something of a pirate amnesty). In fact, it’s probably just a case of poor testing and a rushed release by Microsoft.

How do you claim your free Windows 8 Pro key? By simply visiting the Windows 8 website and requesting a free Windows 8 Media Center Pack license. You type your email address in, and a few moments later there’s a license key sitting in your inbox. This key can’t directly be used to install a fresh copy of Windows 8, but in combination with Windows 8’s Key Management Service (KMS) it will activate Windows 8 Pro permanently.

The Windows 8 Key Management Service is part of Microsoft’s Volume Licensing system, which, as you can probably guess, is for institutions and enterprises that need to activate large numbers of computers remotely. The problem is, it’s easy enough to make your own KMS server, which you can then use to activate your copy of Windows. This is only a partial activation, however, and it needs to be repeated every 180 days.

This is where the bug seems to be: With a KMS-activated copy of Windows 8 (which you can perform with any license key, valid or otherwise), Windows 8 will — for some reason — become fully, legitimately activated when you apply your free Media Center Pack key. To do this, just visit System and click “Get more features with a new edition of Windows” (pictured above), insert your key, and voilà.

The massive irony, of course, is that Microsoft originally intended to strip Media Center from Windows 8 Pro — and then, in the face of consumer backlash, decided to offer it as a free upgrade until January 31 2013. Presumably, instead of taking the time to deliver the upgrade properly, Microsoft pushed it out the door as quickly as possible — and this is the result.

The big question now is whether this hole can be patched. The easiest solution is for Microsoft to terminate the free Media Center Pro offer — but that might be a little foolhardy, considering there are plenty of people out there who will want to obtain the free upgrade after receiving a Windows 8 computer for Christmas. Microsoft might be able to roll out a patch via Windows Update, but pirates will just stay offline until their installations are fully activated. Heads will undoubtedly roll at Microsoft for this mistake, mark my words.

Now read: Why desktop users should upgrade from Windows 7, or check out our collection of Windows 8 tips and tricks