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Sunday, October 11, 2009
Achievers:
'Fan club' leads to honor from Russian company
By Ken Hedler
The Daily Courier
Sunday, October 11, 2009
 | Matt Hinshaw/The Daily Courier
Richard Buffalin displays a few of the items he received from Kaspersky Lab, an Internet security company based in Moscow, Thursday afternoon in Prescott. |
PRESCOTT - Richard Buffalin retired four years ago at 45, but his animated style and night owl habits belie a life of leisure.
Explaining early retirement, Buffalin said, "I saved a lot of money while I worked in behavioral health. I invested in commodities while they were in 17-year lows."
However, retirement for him involves a schedule of sleeping from 5 a.m. to 1 p.m., "socializing" during the day at Safe Harbor - a 12-step, nonresidential program in Prescott - and spending nights and the early morning hours with a computer.
Buffalin, a Tucson native who grew up in New York City and now calls Prescott home, said he spends the wee hours as a "fan club" member of Kaspersky Lab, a Moscow-based Internet security company.
He stumbled upon Kaspersky about a year and a half ago while logging onto its online forum, and learned it sought "beta testers" for its software so that the company can iron out the kinks before releasing products on the market.
While lacking previous experience, Buffalin pursued beta testing with a passion. He said his computer screen turned blue after he downloaded a beta version, indicating the computer crashed.
"Then, I rebooted Windows XP, and then I uploaded the crash dump files to the Kaspersky Lab so the (software) developers can analyze them," he said.
The beta testing continued for about three months, Buffalin said. He said he moderates the Kaspersky forum and trouble-shoots for software customers who have questions.
The company issued the Kaspersky Internet Security 2010 software this past summer, Buffalin said.
In appreciation for the efforts of the beta testers, Kaspersky invited Buffalin and 99 others to a fan club meeting in late August in Moscow.
"We chose by many criteria: the help on forum, functional testing, checking of necessary scenarios, answers to the required information," Kaspersky technical support stated in its forum. Technical support congratulated Buffalin and four others who placed in the top five.
Kaspersky and Lucian Bara of Romania attended the gathering, with Kaspersky picking up the tabs for airfare and hotel accommodation for four nights, Buffalin said. The company also presented them with laptops.
A photo of company founder Eugene Kaspersky autographing Buffalin's T-shirt appears online in the Russian version of PC Magazine.
"It's just fun, exciting, and I am learning as I go, and I am rubbing elbows with interesting people from all over the world," Buffalin said.
Editor's note: If you have a suggestion of a local person to feature in Achievers, call 445-3333, ext. 2041, or send an e-mail to khedler@prescottaz.com.
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