This is arguably the best current idea in the world. Unfortunately it represents a pure public good, is hard to quantify benefits, and therefore lacks the funding or attention it merits. Great kudos nonetheless to MIT for taking very bold steps and demonstrating the reach and power of free online education.
Why not also disintermediate textbook publishers? Professors can self-publish textbooks (online or otherwise) and direct-sell more current info to students for much less.
Yes-- I heard a presentation at the International Conf. on Info Systems a couple of years ago where U of Denver MIS Professor Richard Scudder and U of GA MIS Professor Alan Dennis were spearheading an effort to provide free digital texts (contributed by professors) for 3rd world students.
Currently, profs receive very small royalites for writing texts, while students are paying $200+ per textbook. Publishers often bring out new editions with very few updates -- I've even had MIS texts changed twice in the same academic year. This means students are unable to re-sell and buy used texts. They anticipated the use of $200 "digital readers" like Kindles that would hold lots of texts.
Another opportunity for disintermediation is in academic journal publication. Professors are judged by the number and perceived quality of their peer-reviewed publications, so they're incented to publish research for no additional remuneration, as a (necessary not sufficient) condition of employment. They also review (and supervise the review of) other professors' research to judge its quality and worthiness of publication. They do this for professional status.
Also, by the time an article is published on paper, the ideas are pretty old. An online publication would be much more timely.
Consequently, academic journal publishers only deal with the mechanics of putting ink on paper. Most academics prefer to have access to searchable online articles instead of shelves and shelves of paper journals. Journal subscriptions cost a lot, so their publishers are candidates for disintermediation if the issues related to professional status can be ironed out.
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