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+![MITK Logo][logo]
+
+The [Medical Imaging Interaction Toolkit][mitk] (MITK) is a free open-source software
+system for development of interactive medical image processing software. MITK
+combines the [Insight Toolkit][itk] (ITK) and the [Visualization Toolkit][vtk] (VTK) with an application framework.
+
+See the [MITK homepage][mitk] for details.
+
+Supported Platforms
+-----------------------------
+
+MITK is a cross-platform C++ toolkit and officially supports:
+
+ - Windows
+ - MacOS X
+ - Linux
+
+For details, please read the [Supported Platforms][platforms] page.
+
+License
+-----------
+
+Copyright (c) [German Cancer Research Center][dkfz].
+
+MITK is available as free open-source software under a [BSD-style license][license].
+
+Download
+---------
+
+The MITK source code and binaries for the *mitkWorkbench* application are released regularly according to the [MITK release cycle][release-cycle]. See the [Download][download] page for a list of releases.
+
+The official MITK source code is available in the [MITK Git repository][gitweb]. The Git clone command is
+
+    git clone http://git.mitk.org/MITK.git
+
+Active development takes place in the MITK master branch and its usage is advised for advanced users only.
+
+How to Contribute
+--------------
+
+Contributions of all kind are happily accepted. However, to make the contribution process as smooth as possible, please read the [How to contribute to MITK][contribute] page if you plan to contribute to MITK.
+
+
+Build Instructions
+------------------------
+
+MITK uses [CMake][cmake] to configure a build tree. The following is a crash course about cloning, configuring, and building MITK on a Linux/Unix system:
+
+    git clone http://git.mitk.org/MITK.git
+    mkdir MITK-build
+    cd MITK-build
+    cmake ../MITK
+    make -j4
+
+Read the comprehensive [Build Instructions][build] page for details.
+
+Useful Links
+------------------
+
+ - [Homepage][mitk]
+ - [Download][download]
+ - [Mailing List][mailinglist]
+ - [Bug Tracker][bugs]
+
+
+[logo]: https://github.com/MITK/MITK/raw/master/mitk.png
+[mitk]: http://mitk.org
+[itk]: http://www.itk.org
+[vtk]: http://www.vtk.org
+[platforms]: http://docs.mitk.org/nightly-qt4/SupportedPlatformsPage.html
+[dkfz]: http://www.dkfz.de
+[license]: http://mitk.org/git/?p=MITK.git;a=blob_plain;f=LICENSE.txt
+[release-cycle]: http://mitk.org/MitkReleaseCycle
+[download]: http://mitk.org/Download
+[gitweb]: http://mitk.org/git/?p=MITK.git
+[contribute]: http://mitk.org/How_to_contribute
+[cmake]: http://www.cmake.org
+[build]: http://docs.mitk.org/nightly-qt4/BuildInstructionsPage.html
+[mailinglist]: http://mitk.org/Mailinglist
+[bugs]: http://bugs.mitk.org/
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