This was the debut of the automated costing engine, allowing engineers to get real-time estimates of manufacturing costs (sheet metal and machining) as they designed.
Windows 7 (64-bit) is the sweet spot. Note that newer OS versions like Windows 10 didn't see official support until the 2016 release. Solidworks.2012.sp5.0.multilanguage.integrated.iso
Built on the Parasolid kernel , it offers high-accuracy geometry preservation during imports and exports. This was the debut of the automated costing