IT myths update: Six of the best - the investigation begins...

Since silicon.com launched its quest to find what we have called IT myths (as in 'urban myths') we have been sent a healthy mixture of the best tall tales in tech. These have ranged from the frivolous, to the concise - more than one reader simply responded by citing 'plug and play' - to the obvious.

For example, Dave Flanagan wrote: "Surely the biggest myth ever has to be that the world was going to end in a technological disaster on or around midnight, 31 December 1999...!"

Another reader, Peter Barnsley with a BSc in information systems and a yen for a new job, said: "The biggest IT myth is that the UK has a massive surplus of IT jobs. We are constantly bombarded by the media telling us that companies are crying out for IT managers, developers etc.. It's just not true! I myself have been looking for another job for some months now, not even a single interview!"

But it is the weird and wonderful and somewhat paranoid takes that caught our eye. Chris Payne told us about Colombian drugs cartels using a supercomputer nicknamed 'Mother'. He wrote: "This is so vast and connected to so many other systems that when you use a telephone line in Colombia, you 'share' the line with Mother."

We too heard a similar tale some years back. There was no mention of 'Mother' but there was a rumour that a cartel had used an IBM AS400 and 'appropriated' telco billing information to link together phone numbers to phone numbers of known informants. There then followed a series of nasty recriminations, or so the tale went.

More than one of you wrote to us about a computer called 'Beast 666'. This is allegedly "a supercomputer based in Brussels with personal data on all EU citizens", according to Adrian Spence.

Kevin Adkins, a senior support specialist, takes the story a step further. He wrote in about an old lady he knew who, with reference to the Book of Revelations and 'The Beast', had heard about the 'Brussels Beast'. He summarised her logic: "The beast is here and it knows all about you. Satan must be here - and working in IT. Therefore, Jesus is coming for the final battle. I can only assume that Jesus will be a hacker. Do you want to tell the Wachowski brothers or shall I?"

However, our favourite - and we have a feeling this might just be true - delves back into the recesses of early computing. Mark Acton wrote: "I did hear a story that the term bugs was originally used back in the days when computers (calculating machines?) were based on tubes and valves requiring large amounts of power.

"These machines were based in rooms/basements that were less than perfectly clean with the result that real live bugs did indeed crawl over the circuitry and fry themselves, leading to component failure, system problems and program halts.

"Inevitably the term 'bug' came to represent a problem or glitch within a system or execution of a program."

We'll be investigating these IT myths over the coming days and weeks, quizzing august bodies such as the Colombian government, the EU and experts on early computing. If you have any other stories to tell us, email editorial@silicon.com.