People use GLUT in order to get simple Opengl programs up and running with the minimum of code. You can do anything with GLUT that you can with OpenGL, because GLUT is just a toolkit for OpenGL (as the name would suggest). Besides cutting out the initialization stuff, GLUT includes lots extra features such as menus, keyboard input and functions to support drawing of primatives such as spheres and cubes.
I would recommend using it if you''re just starting out with OpenGL. As far as I know, no professional games have been written with GLUT, as there is, I''m told (although I haven''t tested this), some performance hit, and until recently GLUT couldn''t be run fullscreen.
If you want to use OpenGL without GLUT, then take a look at NeHe''s tutorials (there''s a link to them from the main page).
If you want to try GLUT, go to my web site and look in the tutorials section.
www.elf-stone.com
very curious about this since ive never had it cleard up - Glut and openGL are not the same thing are they ?
my interpretation is that Glut is library of functions for ogl to make it simpler for them to write code, not having to worry about initialisation stuff.
why do ppl use Glut and not just plain ogl ? is it just as fast as using plain ogl ? do professional game developers use Glut ?
if i want to use ogl but not use Glut how do i go about it in windows ? im guessing good old winapi and creating windows, hwnds etc.
any help would be appreciated 
