For me XSLT (I mean 2.0 and above) is awesome technology for current web environment. There are a lot of markup languages with which I can for example create graphics (SVG) and use it inside PDF (thru formatting objects (XSL-FO)). I can store complex application configurations inside Excel (OOXML) and transform it to xml and validate it (and then generate data file for db). Or I can manage language translations in excel file and merge them to individual properties files. I can also use powerful XSLT 2.0 inside browser with Saxon-CE. There are really lots of use cases for XSLT. I must mention that I use this technology with Apache ANT and this combination saved a lot of my time! In this way it is possible to do sophisticated automations. I don't know how many people use it but it is possible to have a build file and some xml configuration. In main ant target you specify xslt task (input=xml configuration, output=build file) and subsequent ant task which triggers this generated build file. This technique gives great flexibility! Of course when working with XMLs you need a good IDE!