One of the most often touted features and advantages to using OpenGL for rendering is that it is widely available across operating systems and hardware platforms. Although the core OpenGL functionality remains consistent, you will notice a few quirks when moving from one platform to another. So far, we have been using GLUT as a means of achieving source portability for our sample programs. GLUT is fine for learning purposes, but professional software developers know that to build high-quality and feature-rich applications, it is often necessary to incorporate specific operating system features or support the GUI features that users expect of programs that run in their favorite environment.

The next three chapters concern themselves with using OpenGL on three different but popular platforms. Each operating system has its own advantages and quirks when it comes to using OpenGL. Each chapter begins by describing the common task of getting OpenGL up and running but then delves into some special features of OpenGL that are specific to the platform, as well as some notes on maximizing performance on that platform.

OpenGL. It's everywhere. Do the math.