Google’s Chrome OS has finally been unveiled, and the search giant is leaving no stone unturned by adding printing capabilities to their web apps, courtesy of Google Cloud Print. Here’s how to get started with the printing technology -- although for now, Mac owners aren’t invited to the party.

Google Cloud Print promises local printer connection from any Chrome browser as well as the company’s forthcoming Chrome OS, and in just a few easy steps you can get things up and running. However, for now Cloud Print is only available on Windows 7, Vista or XP -- the company claims that Mac and Linux support is “coming soon.”

That is, unless you have access to virtualization software such as Parallels Desktop, which we used to set up Google Cloud Print and give it a try. Boot Camp users can also join this party, and here’s how to get started.

First, you’ll need to download and install Google Chrome if you haven’t already (the web browser, not the OS). You’ll need the latest version 9.0.597.1 or greater to use Google Cloud Print, which we had to download from the special link above instead of the usual Chrome download page.

Open the Chrome browser and click on the wrench icon in the upper right hand corner, then choose Options.

Now select the “Under the Hood” tab and scroll to the bottom -- you should see a new option, “Sign in to Google Cloud Print.” Click on it, and enter your Google account e-mail and password.

You should now see a “Success!” confirmation like the one above, and you’re ready to print a test page by clicking the button, which takes you back to the Google Cloud Print beta website with a blue “Print a test page” button; click it and you’ll see a pop-up with all available printers. Choose the one you want, click Print and you should get a test page championing your success.

Note that Boot Camp users will need to install Windows drivers for their printers; Parallel Desktop users have the advantage of easily adding a printer port which simply spools printed material to any printer on your Mac, including networked printers that are all the rage these days. We tested Google Cloud Print with Windows 7 using Parallels Desktop and a Lexmark Genesis S816 printer and it worked as expected.

Last but not least, you’ll find two new options in your “Under the Hood” tab related to Google Cloud Print -- the first disables the service, and the second lets you manage print settings used by the service.

Google Cloud Print looks like a simple way to get web apps to print, but shame on Google for not making it available on Mac or Linux yet -- then again, we should be used to such treatment after having to wait nearly a year for the Chrome browser in the first place.

Follow this article’s author, J.R. Bookwalter on Twitter