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IMO it's not Tuk's UI that started the "all UIs look the same" phenomenon, it's the whole minimalist craze. Sure there were minimalist UIs before, but these were rare, extreme cases adopted by a minority of people. The game was also a bit more difficult and you couldn't get away with having just 3 spells on your action bars or no buffs showing.
So people needed more information, more addons, more stuff on their screen. And with more stuff on your screen, there's more different ways you can arrange said stuff. That's why we had so many different looking UIs, because everyone had different needs, different roles, different amounts of information on their screen, and, maybe most importantly, different tastes. People weren't really worried about memory/CPU back then either (which is ironic seeing as how now we have more powerful PCs but always strive for low memory/CPU consumptions).
Then the game got easier, our action bars and raid frames got smaller, our boss warnings fewer, the default UI more efficient. Everyone cut down on useless stuff and, as a result, everyone had fewer stuff on their screen. And with less stuff came less possibilities of arranging said stuff.
Before, a raiding UI consisted of 4-5 unit frames with their own buffs and debuffs, Omen window full of bars, damage meters, boss warnings, 25 people raid frames, minimap, (large) chat tab, buff/cooldown warnings and other miscellanea for different classes and roles.
Now you can get away with just two unit frames (text replacing the rest), a select list of important buffs/debuffs, percentage number for threat, default boss warnings, 10 people raid frame (or literally just a percentage health text for each member), minuscule minimap and chat, and that's about it. With such a small and finite number of things on your screen, and the fact that people are allergic to art/panels of any kind in their UIs, there's only so much you can do to make a unique UI.
People still made good, functional UIs back in the day, and perhaps it was even more challenging, making sure all that information was presented in a coherent, clean way. But now there's really no way you can go wrong with a UI, with so few things to be mindful of.
And lastly, don't forget the fact that everyone is, in one way or another, looking for that "perfect" UI. Once they find it, they stop experimenting and throwing around good ideas/designs and settle for one layout. Which is good for the person but bad for the community as a whole.
/rantoff
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