The TEI emphasizes what is common to every kind of document, whether physically represented in digital form on disk or memory card, in printed form as book or newspaper, in written form as manuscript or codex, or in inscribed form on stone or wax tablet. This continuity facilitates the migration of text from older manifestations such as print or manuscript to newer ones such as disk or display. Hence, the TEI view of what text actually is is largely conditioned by what text has been in the past, without however compromising too greatly what text may become in the future. It attempts to treat all kinds of digital document in the same way, whether they were ‘born digital’ or not.