One of the problems of the current structure (at least as of five-ish years ago) is that most of the EdX employees are on the MIT payroll and benefits system (meaning the benefits are pretty great, but the pay bands are incompatible with competing [financially] for engineering talent against the actual tech market). If this breaks that logjam, it could be good for EdX in this one, small regard.
Fundamentally though I agree with your summary; I trusted EdX a lot more because it was tightly affiliated with MIT and Harvard. Spun out into an arms-length institution, it seems like it will now be more likely to be driven into the ground by its leadership at some point in the next 100 years because of the lack of enough stabilizing "keel" provided by the affiliation with world-class universities.
Fundamentally though I agree with your summary; I trusted EdX a lot more because it was tightly affiliated with MIT and Harvard. Spun out into an arms-length institution, it seems like it will now be more likely to be driven into the ground by its leadership at some point in the next 100 years because of the lack of enough stabilizing "keel" provided by the affiliation with world-class universities.