OK, a standard dialect of Markdown.<p>In the beginning was RUNOFF from MIT, which originally had about the power of Markdown. More features were added, and it became nroff, then troff, the ditrofff, and macro systems were added on top of it. It became too hard to use for casual work.<p>Then there was TeX, which was a saner approach to what troff did. Macro systems were added on top of it. It became too hard to use for casual work.<p>Then there was HTML, which started out with about the power of Markdown. More features were added. It became too hard to use for casual work.<p>Then there was BBcode, which started out with about the power of original HTML. It didn't gain many features, and is still widely used.<p>Then there was Markdown, which started out with about the power of original HTML. More features were added. Macros have been added by at least five people, but haven't quite gone mainstream yet. When Markdown gets macros, it, too, will be too hard to use for casual work.<p>Next!