Computer Coup

Vector Graphic finds a niche

Six years ago, the fondest hope of Carole Ely and Lore Harp was to escape the bored-housewives trap and do something really bold like, say, opening a travel agency. When Lore's husband Bob, a scientist at Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu, Calif., suggested that they think big and take a plunge into computers instead, they responded with what amounted to uncomprehending stares. Neither knew the first thing about the exotic world of computers.

Today the two women are acknowledged leaders in the fast-tracking field of microcomputers, and their six-year-old...