Using Simulation Software w/ Future SW Versions

Hi,

I understand that Simulation will not truly be integrated with SW if I do not have an active subscription for Simulation and the SW version I use is a future version compared to the Simulation package I have (for example, if I purchase Simulation 2011, it will run with SW 2011; however, if I upgrade to SW 2012 but do not purchase the sub to upgrade to Simulation 2012, the two programs will no longer be integrated, i.e. I won't be able to open a native SW 2012 model in Simulation 2011).  I was wondering if any of you out there have purchased a Simulation package (Professional or Premium) but not the sub for it, and once your SW version upgrades and becomes a "future" version relative to your Simulation package, have there been any problems simply exporting SW files to STEP or something generic that the Simulation package can still read.  Can you do this for assemblies, as well?  i.e. can you export an assembly as a STEP (or any format readable by Simulation) and import it into Simulation to run an analysis on the assembly (be it thermal, static, etc)?

Thanks,

Aaron

SolidworksSimulation