Thats what I thought too. However, there's a plethora of tools that can generate (and parse!) XML for you, e.g. HAML or Markdown. I write all my TeX docs in Markdown and then convert it to TeX, but stuff like figure placement has to be done in weird comments containing TeX, which'd be easier with RhinoType.

HAML for content: http://chriseppstein.github.io/blog/2010/02/08/haml-sucks-fo... (its not so bad :P)