Increasingly, computer language is permeating the traditional linguistic structures, and the way we relate to our environment. Readme.txt, the title of this essay, effectively refers to the instructions format we have grown to be accustomed to, which replaces in many instances the "good old instruction manual" that used to come with every device we acquired, ranging from vacuum cleaners, to toasters, to software and related computer equipment.

The Web has now become part of our lives. When I was last given to travel in Mexico, I was astounded to find little shops in the middle of nowhere offering a multitude of communication services that almost always included access to the Net: "Larga Distancia, Fax, Copias, Internet" has become part of a rural landscape the same way it has become part of our urban experience pretty much everywhere on the globe.