Tough call when you want it to look original. But it is in fact a vastly superior system in pretty much every way.
It's shorter for more room for fans. Either the fantastic mechanical fan with thermostatic fan clutch. Or even potentially for that larger electric fan someday. Of course that's not going to look stock in any way either...
At least some of the POSITIVES:
It easily mounts a fantastic 4G alternator with super solid mounting.
Has a pretty darn good power steering pump with remote reservoir that is pretty efficient at keeping aeration at bay.
Super water pump, that can be changed literally without removing anything else other than the single belt.
Has an A/C compressor if you either want on-board air supply or actually want A/C like I do these days.
NEGATIVES:
Doesn't look stock. But who cares if it fixes lots of other stuff.
You can't use any kind of a mechanical fuel pump with it so need to go electric if you haven't already.
Needs a slight re-orientation of the alternator wiring and the water pump-to-radiator plumbing.
That's about it for the negatives. Can't think of any reason not to run one, other than it's more work the first time and it doesn't look stock.
There's really no reason your stock setup in good condition can't work though. Unless it has deteriorated and you don't renew the parts, or you're building too much heat for the system either from higher horsepower, harder use, or underlying problems with the engine and it's state of tune.
So basically you still have a choice. But the Explorer setup was/is Ford's most modern iteration of our basic cooling system.
Paul