The South African e-documentation workgroup is hosting a number of the world’s most influential XML and open standards activists at the “XML in Government Workshop” next week. One of the key figures behind the event - and indeed behind much of the XML and digital standards work in South Africa - is Bob Jolliffe. A member of the South African department of science and technology, a founder of Freedom to Innovate South Africa (FTISA), and someone who has spent the best part of the past year arguing the merits and demerits of OOXML, he explains here how far the movement to open standards and XML in government has progressed.