More good news for cloud computing! Google last week released its once mysterious Chrome Operating System to open source.

Chrome OS, available in 2010 – is a web-based operating system that promises to boot up super-fast on a netbook – way faster than the time it takes to start your basic PC. And Chrome has web applications (competing with Microsoft Windows Azure) that will run on application tabs. Users can access with one click and manage in a series of windows.

I read a short piece in which Matt Papakipos, engineering director for Chrome OS, addressed security issues (always reassuring to businesses considering making the leap to the cloud). In the story, he is quoted as saying that every component of Chrome OS, from firmware, to the kernel, to the file, has a cryptographic signature attached to them. “It’s as if each one were a document that’s signed at the bottom with a John Hancock saying ‘Yes, this is the right set of bits,” he said.

It’s clear (to me, anyway, and I hope to a growing number of you all) that we’re rapidly moving away from complicated, resource-hungry office desktops to lighter, app-free machines – leaving the heavy-lifting such as app access and data storage to the cloud.

One more step in the right direction!

PS: If you want to catch the scoop on Google’s vision for the future of cloud computing, check out this YouTube video.