I don't think Microsoft's pricing is unreasonable, nor the tiered levels.
Everything is subject to inflation. Do we think software developers get paid minimum wage, or never deserve raises?
*Developer gets hired* - well, sir, this is your pay level. For the rest of your life!
Yes, everything is subject to inflation.
But there are also multiple downward pressues on price as well:
1) competition;
2) efficiencies of scale;
3) increases in productivity (whether due to workers working harder or changes in technology that enable a worker to increase output);
4) supply/demand;
5) price decreases in various inputs used in the product/system caused by those inputs themselves being affected by 1-4 above and also this point 5 (being recursive).
If prices remain stable for a long time - despite inflation - and then a decrease in competition (i.e. aquisitions taking competitors out of the market) is followed by a near-immediate increase in prices, then that is decent evidence of anti-trust activities.
PS: thinking about it, points 2 and 3 above are basically the same thing, as an efficiency of scale is another way of saying increased productivity.