--- a/about.md	Wed Oct 12 01:47:36 2016 +0200
+++ b/about.md	Wed Oct 12 01:48:26 2016 +0200
@@ -24,22 +24,23 @@
 
 GNU Octave is also freely redistributable software.  You
 may redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of
-the GNU General Public License
-(<a href="http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html">GPL</a>)
-as published by the
-<a href="http://www.gnu.org">Free Software Foundation</a>.
+the [GNU General Public License (GPL)][1] as published by
+the [Free Software Foundation][2].
 
-Octave was written by
-<a href="mailto:jwe@octave.org">John W. Eaton</a> and
-<a href="http://hg.savannah.gnu.org/hgweb/octave/file/tip/doc/interpreter/contributors.in">many others</a>.
-Because Octave is
-<a href="http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html">free software</a>
-you are encouraged to help make Octave more useful by writing and
-contributing additional functions for it, and by reporting any
-problems you may have.
+Octave was written by [John W. Eaton][3] and [many others][4].
+Because Octave is [free software][5] you are encouraged to help
+make Octave more useful by writing and contributing additional
+functions for it, and by reporting any problems you may have.
+
+[1]: https://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
+[2]: https://www.gnu.org/
+[3]: mailto:jwe@octave.org
+[4]: http://hg.savannah.gnu.org/hgweb/octave/file/tip/doc/interpreter/contributors.in
+[5]: https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html
 
 
-## History
+
+# History
 
 Octave was originally conceived (in about 1988) to be companion
 software for an undergraduate-level textbook on chemical reactor
@@ -62,11 +63,9 @@
 Full-time development began in the Spring of 1992.  The first alpha
 release was January 4, 1993, and version 1.0 was released February 17,
 1994.  Since then, Octave has been through several major revisions, is
-included with <a href="http://www.debian.org">Debian GNU/Linux</a> and
-<a href="http://www.novell.com/linux/suse/">SuSE</a>
-<a href="http://www.linux.org">Linux</a> distributions, and was reviewed in
-the in the July, 1997 issue of the
-<a href="http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/1225">Linux Journal</a>.
+included with [Debian GNU/Linux][6], [openSUSE][7], and many other
+GNU/Linux distributions.  Octave was reviewed in the in the July, 1997
+issue of the [Linux Journal][8].
 
 Clearly, Octave is now much more than just another courseware
 package with limited utility beyond the classroom.  Although our
@@ -85,8 +84,11 @@
 just as easily.
 
 Everyone is encouraged to share this software with others under the
-terms of the GNU General Public License
-(<a href="http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html">GPL</a>).  You are also
+terms of the [GNU General Public License (GPL)][1].  You are also
 encouraged to help make Octave more useful by writing and contributing
 additional functions for it, and by reporting any problems you may
 have.
+
+[6]: https://www.debian.org/
+[7]: https://www.opensuse.org/
+[8]: http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/1225