diff --git a/README b/README
index c5f6118ded..83088c3019 100644
--- a/README
+++ b/README
@@ -1,15 +1,45 @@
-This is a LyX development release
----------------------------------
+Preamble: LyX versionning scheme
 
-The LyX Team has adopted a new development model and
-tries to keep the development version stable as far
-as possible, but since the program is changing, the
-development version will be less stable than the
-stable releases.
+	In September of 1999 the LyX Team decided that we could no
+	longer successfully use the two strand development process
+	like the Linux kernel. We are in the process of switching to a
+	development model similar to that used by Fetchmail where we
+	will only make small stable changes between releases and
+	release more often. All future releases should be stable
+	although we are currently in a transition period where some
+	major changes have to be introduced and are likely to affect
+	the stability in the short term.
 
-So, don't use this development version on your production
-documents without testing everything in depth first.
+	These changes include: 
 
+	 * Use of C++ Standard Library features such as the Standard
+	   Template Library (STL), string and streams.  
+
+	 * Establishing the foundations of GUI/system independence, 
+
+	 * Rearrangement of the directory structure, 
+
+	 * Use of libtool, automake and autoconf. 
+
+	Once the transition is over the 1.1 series should be very
+	stable and we will then release 1.2.0. This new series will be
+	in a state of continual advancement. Note the word
+	"advancement" and not "development." Development will be
+	occurring in branches of CVS and once the feature/modification
+	has proved stable it will be merged into the main releases.
+
+	Versionning uses a continuous numbering scheme where odd or
+	even numbering is no longer significant. Prereleases are
+	labelled with a "pre" suffix and any fixes required between
+	stable releases have a "fix" suffix. Thus there are three
+	possible file names:
+
+	   lyx-1.1.5.tar.gz       -- stable release
+	   lyx-1.1.5fix2.tar.gz   -- bug fix of the 1.1.5 stable release.
+	   lyx-1.1.5pre1.tar.gz   -- potentially unstable test release
+
+	The fix releases contain no new functionality; only fixes that
+	have already made their way into the cvs repository. 
 
 What is LyX?