Consider that you need a data visualization API that allows you to project findings on a huge social graph. Or that you need a library that performs basic image and video processing tasks, so that you apply your largest scale concept. Or even you need to develop an application that initially performs ASR in order to provide personalized services to elderly people in Greece. In all these cases you may develop everything from scratch (obviously a bad choice), or you can select from a number of tools/libraries/APIs already residing in open source repositories. Then you would have to learn how to use/embed (each and every one of them), integrate them in your own project and test that everything works smoothly. Wrong selection of components will inevitably lead to great delays or even failure, and this is something that you surely would like to avoid… The talk will provide an overview of the modern open source multimedia tools landscape, from the perspective of reusability, maintainability and developer perceived quality. It will discuss the popularity of tools/libraries/APIs with respect to the development context they are used (desktop/server/mobile) and will provide useful insight on how to select the proper component for the right job.