diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index ec0b319..6bc8754 100755
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -50,4 +50,5 @@
 	sonar-project.properties \
 	LICENSE \
 	CHANGES \
-	NOTICE
+	NOTICE \
+	README.md
diff --git a/README b/README.md
similarity index 96%
rename from README
rename to README.md
index 4d81081..3520c01 100644
--- a/README
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 Apache Thrift
+=============
 
-Last Modified: 2013-Dec-17
+Last Modified: 2014-03-16
 
 License
 =======
@@ -36,7 +37,7 @@
 across client and server code.
 
 For more details on Thrift's design and implementation, take a gander at
-the Thrift whitepaper included in this distribution or at the README files
+the Thrift whitepaper included in this distribution or at the README.md files
 in your particular subdirectory of interest.
 
 Hierarchy
@@ -134,7 +135,7 @@
 better suited to those languages (at the time of this writing, this applies
 to Java, Ruby, PHP).
 
-Look for the README file in the lib/<language>/ folder for more details on the
+Look for the README.md file in the lib/<language>/ folder for more details on the
 installation of each language library package.
 
 Testing
diff --git a/compiler/cpp/Makefile.am b/compiler/cpp/Makefile.am
index 4c0e71d..95b78ee 100644
--- a/compiler/cpp/Makefile.am
+++ b/compiler/cpp/Makefile.am
@@ -106,7 +106,7 @@
              compiler.sln \
              compiler.vcxproj \
              compiler.vcxproj.filters \
-             README_Windows.txt
+             README_Windows.md
 
 EXTRA_DIST = \
              $(WINDOWS_DIST)
diff --git a/compiler/cpp/README b/compiler/cpp/README.md
similarity index 100%
rename from compiler/cpp/README
rename to compiler/cpp/README.md
diff --git a/compiler/cpp/README_Windows.txt b/compiler/cpp/README_Windows.md
similarity index 100%
rename from compiler/cpp/README_Windows.txt
rename to compiler/cpp/README_Windows.md
diff --git a/contrib/Rebus/README b/contrib/Rebus/README.md
similarity index 100%
rename from contrib/Rebus/README
rename to contrib/Rebus/README.md
diff --git a/contrib/Stomp/README b/contrib/Stomp/README.md
similarity index 100%
rename from contrib/Stomp/README
rename to contrib/Stomp/README.md
diff --git a/contrib/fb303/README b/contrib/fb303/README.md
similarity index 100%
rename from contrib/fb303/README
rename to contrib/fb303/README.md
diff --git a/contrib/transport-sample/README.txt b/contrib/transport-sample/README.md
similarity index 100%
rename from contrib/transport-sample/README.txt
rename to contrib/transport-sample/README.md
diff --git a/contrib/zeromq/README b/contrib/zeromq/README.md
similarity index 100%
rename from contrib/zeromq/README
rename to contrib/zeromq/README.md
diff --git a/debian/README b/debian/README.md
similarity index 100%
rename from debian/README
rename to debian/README.md
diff --git a/lib/c_glib/Makefile.am b/lib/c_glib/Makefile.am
index 3244f74..35f1114 100755
--- a/lib/c_glib/Makefile.am
+++ b/lib/c_glib/Makefile.am
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@
 
 
 EXTRA_DIST = \
-             README \
+             README.md \
              test/glib.suppress \
              thrift_c_glib.pc.in
 
diff --git a/lib/c_glib/README b/lib/c_glib/README.md
similarity index 100%
rename from lib/c_glib/README
rename to lib/c_glib/README.md
diff --git a/lib/cocoa/README b/lib/cocoa/README.md
similarity index 100%
rename from lib/cocoa/README
rename to lib/cocoa/README.md
diff --git a/lib/cpp/Makefile.am b/lib/cpp/Makefile.am
index 7b879f3..9810745 100755
--- a/lib/cpp/Makefile.am
+++ b/lib/cpp/Makefile.am
@@ -225,7 +225,7 @@
 THRIFT = $(top_builddir)/compiler/cpp/thrift
 
 WINDOWS_DIST = \
-             README_WINDOWS \
+             README_WINDOWS.md \
              src/thrift/windows \
              thrift.sln \
              libthrift.vcxproj \
@@ -234,8 +234,8 @@
              libthriftnb.vcxproj.filters
 
 EXTRA_DIST = \
-             README \
-             README.SSL \
+             README.md \
+             README.SSL.md \
              thrift-nb.pc.in \
              thrift.pc.in \
              thrift-z.pc.in \
diff --git a/lib/cpp/README.SSL b/lib/cpp/README.SSL.md
similarity index 100%
rename from lib/cpp/README.SSL
rename to lib/cpp/README.SSL.md
diff --git a/lib/cpp/README b/lib/cpp/README.md
similarity index 100%
rename from lib/cpp/README
rename to lib/cpp/README.md
diff --git a/lib/cpp/README_WINDOWS b/lib/cpp/README_WINDOWS.md
similarity index 100%
rename from lib/cpp/README_WINDOWS
rename to lib/cpp/README_WINDOWS.md
diff --git a/lib/csharp/README b/lib/csharp/README.md
similarity index 100%
rename from lib/csharp/README
rename to lib/csharp/README.md
diff --git a/lib/d/Makefile.am b/lib/d/Makefile.am
index a4e3188..04c0639 100644
--- a/lib/d/Makefile.am
+++ b/lib/d/Makefile.am
@@ -180,4 +180,4 @@
 EXTRA_DIST = \
 	src \
 	test \
-	README
+	README.md
diff --git a/lib/d/README b/lib/d/README.md
similarity index 100%
rename from lib/d/README
rename to lib/d/README.md
diff --git a/lib/delphi/test/codegen/README.txt b/lib/delphi/test/codegen/README.md
similarity index 100%
rename from lib/delphi/test/codegen/README.txt
rename to lib/delphi/test/codegen/README.md
diff --git a/lib/delphi/test/skip/README.txt b/lib/delphi/test/skip/README.md
similarity index 100%
rename from lib/delphi/test/skip/README.txt
rename to lib/delphi/test/skip/README.md
diff --git a/lib/erl/README b/lib/erl/README.md
similarity index 100%
rename from lib/erl/README
rename to lib/erl/README.md
diff --git a/lib/go/Makefile.am b/lib/go/Makefile.am
index efb58be..bb386cf 100644
--- a/lib/go/Makefile.am
+++ b/lib/go/Makefile.am
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@
 install:
 	@echo '##############################################################'
 	@echo '##############################################################'
-	@echo 'The Go client library should be installed via "go get", please see /lib/go/README'
+	@echo 'The Go client library should be installed via "go get", please see /lib/go/README.md'
 	@echo '##############################################################'
 	@echo '##############################################################'
 
@@ -34,4 +34,4 @@
 all-local: check-local
 
 EXTRA_DIST = \
-	thrift
\ No newline at end of file
+	thrift
diff --git a/lib/go/README b/lib/go/README.md
similarity index 100%
rename from lib/go/README
rename to lib/go/README.md
diff --git a/lib/hs/Makefile.am b/lib/hs/Makefile.am
index 3db1df9..70c51c7 100644
--- a/lib/hs/Makefile.am
+++ b/lib/hs/Makefile.am
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
 
 EXTRA_DIST = \
   LICENSE \
-  README \
+  README.md \
   Setup.lhs \
   TODO \
   Thrift.cabal \
diff --git a/lib/hs/README b/lib/hs/README.md
similarity index 100%
rename from lib/hs/README
rename to lib/hs/README.md
diff --git a/lib/java/README b/lib/java/README.md
similarity index 100%
rename from lib/java/README
rename to lib/java/README.md
diff --git a/lib/js/Gruntfile.js b/lib/js/Gruntfile.js
index 321063f..3298d5c 100644
--- a/lib/js/Gruntfile.js
+++ b/lib/js/Gruntfile.js
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@
     },
     jsdoc : {
         dist : {
-            src: ['src/*.js', './README'], 
+            src: ['src/*.js', './README.md'],
             options: {
               destination: 'doc'
             }
diff --git a/lib/js/README b/lib/js/README.md
similarity index 100%
rename from lib/js/README
rename to lib/js/README.md
diff --git a/lib/js/test/README b/lib/js/test/README.md
similarity index 100%
rename from lib/js/test/README
rename to lib/js/test/README.md
diff --git a/lib/ocaml/README b/lib/ocaml/README.md
similarity index 100%
rename from lib/ocaml/README
rename to lib/ocaml/README.md
diff --git a/lib/perl/README b/lib/perl/README.md
similarity index 100%
rename from lib/perl/README
rename to lib/perl/README.md
diff --git a/lib/php/Makefile.am b/lib/php/Makefile.am
index 927de98..2b6b5fa 100755
--- a/lib/php/Makefile.am
+++ b/lib/php/Makefile.am
@@ -119,7 +119,7 @@
   src/Thrift.php \
   src/TStringUtils.php \
   thrift_protocol.ini \
-  README.apache
+  README.apache.md
 
 MAINTAINERCLEANFILES = \
   Makefile \
diff --git a/lib/php/README.apache b/lib/php/README.apache.md
similarity index 100%
rename from lib/php/README.apache
rename to lib/php/README.apache.md
diff --git a/lib/php/README b/lib/php/README.md
similarity index 100%
rename from lib/php/README
rename to lib/php/README.md
diff --git a/lib/py/README b/lib/py/README.md
similarity index 100%
rename from lib/py/README
rename to lib/py/README.md
diff --git a/lib/rb/README b/lib/rb/README.md
similarity index 100%
rename from lib/rb/README
rename to lib/rb/README.md
diff --git a/lib/rb/thrift.gemspec b/lib/rb/thrift.gemspec
index a91ea07..43e5a7f 100644
--- a/lib/rb/thrift.gemspec
+++ b/lib/rb/thrift.gemspec
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@
   s.test_files = Dir.glob("{test,spec,benchmark}/**/*")
   s.executables =  Dir.glob("{bin}/**/*")
 
-  s.extra_rdoc_files  = %w[README] + Dir.glob("{ext,lib}/**/*.{c,h,rb}")
+  s.extra_rdoc_files  = %w[README.md] + Dir.glob("{ext,lib}/**/*.{c,h,rb}")
 
   s.require_paths = %w[lib ext]
 
diff --git a/lib/st/README b/lib/st/README.md
similarity index 100%
rename from lib/st/README
rename to lib/st/README.md
diff --git a/tutorial/README b/tutorial/README.md
similarity index 98%
rename from tutorial/README
rename to tutorial/README.md
index a29f977..7772bf3 100644
--- a/tutorial/README
+++ b/tutorial/README.md
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@
 
 1) First things first, you'll need to install the Thrift compiler and the
    language libraries. Do that using the instructions in the top level
-   README file.
+   README.md file.
 
 2) Read tutorial.thrift to learn about the syntax of a Thrift file
 
diff --git a/tutorial/erl/README b/tutorial/erl/README.md
similarity index 100%
rename from tutorial/erl/README
rename to tutorial/erl/README.md
diff --git a/tutorial/java/README b/tutorial/java/README.md
similarity index 100%
rename from tutorial/java/README
rename to tutorial/java/README.md
diff --git a/tutorial/ocaml/README b/tutorial/ocaml/README.md
similarity index 100%
rename from tutorial/ocaml/README
rename to tutorial/ocaml/README.md