Oops, edited my post and you guys have already replied. See my edit.

EDIT: I haven't played WOW, but I have played Eve, which has possibly the best UI I've ever seen, possibly in any game at all. Would I like the UI in FFXIV to have similar features? Sure, of course I would. Does the FFXIV UI it make the game unplayable for me because I've played Eve? Not at all. How often does it come across as annoying? Not that often, actually.

I guess you have have high standards and more specific requirements with your gaming than I do. I certainly don't think that - lag aside - FFXIV's UI is worse than FFXI's. FFXI was terrible. I still loved the game, though...