You can still write xml-compliant HTML; whether it's called XHTML or not is splitting hairs. You still get all the benefits of a very rich toolset for document preparation. I work on a site that makes heavy use of xslt and works with xml-compliant HTML as input/output.

XML and XHTML are two different things. Related, but different. XHTML is no longer encouraged for website markup, that part is true too. That does not mean that XML is no longer encouraged.