Redmond-WA-based Microsoft (NASDAQ: [[ticker:MSFT]]) is not letting the economy slow it down, hiring three new executives focused on Web search and Internet from Sunnyvale, CA-based Yahoo (NASDAQ: [[ticker:YHOO]]), according to a report in TechFlash and confirmed by Microsoft. Kevin Timmons has joined the data center group of Microsoft’s Global Foundation Services, according to a blog post by the group. Timmons joins Yongdong Wang, who was Yahoo’s president of international search, in leaving for Microsoft. And former Google engineering director Knut Risvik, who also once worked at Yahoo, is joining Microsoft as a partner architect in its Web search platform.