And so, two years after starting to code for OS X, I actually manage to release a product. KosmicQuitter is roaming free.

Admittedly, much of the two years were spent coding the yet to escape KosmicTask or on client work. In fact, if I remember correctly, I started coding KosmicQuitter on the 1st of January 2009 as a result of an unspoken, yet surprisingly sincere, New Year's resolution to try and drink less. In fact, I had hoped to be able to claim that KosmicQuitter was written under the influence of not so much as a molecule of ethanol. But it was not to be.

The Setting

If you know anything about Ireland then you will know that the Irish, God help them, are drawn to alcohol like children to puppies. We love the affection, the licking, and the kisses. But, of course, we go too far and get bitten. We roar and tearfully chastise ourselves, promise to stand firm, to fashion an indestructible resolve, at which point the puppy once more bounces into the room and we are off again.

If you know anything about Islands then you will know that they exert strange and powerful forces upon the human psyche. Mugginsoft is situated on Rathlin Island and thus I am subject to those forces. What can I say, the forces have long propelled me into the pub.

My own KosmicQuitter document, which I update every morning, reveals that in January of 2009 I did manage to drink a lot less than normal. In that sense, my resolution held up fairly well. February was also good, but things went downhill a bit from there. April was the worst month but since then I have managed to moderate my habit. My recent alcohol consumption is now averaging about half what it was in April.

More than anything KosmicQuitter makes me think, every day, about how much I drink. It's up to me after that.

Contentment and All That

Personally, I am not, in the slightest, motivated by money or conventional notions of success, but I do feel a genuine sense of satisfaction at having completed what I set out to do, which was to write a moderately useful OS X app and make it available it on the web.

I believe that a degree of individual human contentment can, in a practical and quotidian sense, be pursued in two ways.

One, in performing actions whose primary motivation is to help or assist others.
Two, by setting individual goals (regardless of their Kosmic insignificance) and seeking to attain them.

Of course, in the pursuit of Two it is important not to compromise One. But apart from that, I am content to use these two points as general behavioural principles.

Writing software is an activity that must also must conform to these little principles. So, the software must be useful to others and my conception of what it should be must be clearly formulated within my own head.

Once more, what can I say, except that I use KosmicQuitter and I hope that others will find it useful too. Now, I am not a smoker and have not subjected myself to too much trial by other substances. But I have tried to design the software so that it will be useful in a variety of other situations, some or many of which I may not have anticipated.

I have some ideas for further features. Hopefully I will be able to implement these once I get KosmicTask loosed. But if you think that KQ needs a particular feature then let me know. You never know, I might be persuaded.

Jonathan Mitchell