Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) has hired three new executives focused on Web search and Internet from Yahoo (NASDAQ: 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. Timmons led the build-out of Yahoo’s data centers and infrastructure. Before that he was a director of Operations at GeoCities, and prior to that he served as a senior software engineer at Marconi Dynamics.

Timmons joins Yongdong Wang, who was Yahoo’s president of international search, in leaving for Microsoft.

The third person is former Google engineering director Knut Risvik, who also once worked at Yahoo. Risvik is joining Microsoft as a partner architect in its Web search platform.

Microsoft recently launched its new search platform, Bing.

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Microsoft has unexpectedly launch their new search engine ahead of schedule. Bing.com is the new face of search and will replace Live.com. Searches from Live are already being redirected to Bing.com.

Microsoft is quoted on saying:

”Bing is specifically designed to build on the benefits of today’s search engines but begins to move beyond this experience with a new approach to user experience and intuitive tools to help customers make better decisions, focusing initially on four key vertical areas: making a purchase decision, planning a trip, researching a health condition or finding a local business”.

Although Bing is not Live Search, it is somewhat based on it.

It will be interesting to see how well Bing does in comparison to its predecessor Live, and whether it will attract long-term users, rather than tyre-kickers. However, the reception on Twitter has been reasonably positive.

Already people are comparing it with Google. It does seem to work much better than Google for finding real product info and reviews, where Google’s results are loaded with spam and all sorts of price comparison rubbish.

But in most respects, Google still rules for the moment. Bing is an incomplete beta, and while it’s looking impressive, it’s not yet an actual match for Google.

Microsoft knows perfectly well that it’s going to take it “years and years and years” (in Steve Ballmer’s words) to get anywhere in search, if it ever does.

Microsoft will have to overtake Yahoo first. So, comparisons with Google are a bit misguided at present. In reality, Bing is competing with Yahoo and Ask to be the leading Google alternative.

Microsoft PR reckons Bing is “the sound of found” but the common joke is that it stands recursively for Bing Is Not Google.

Tighten your seat belts as we are definitely in for a ride with online search. Let the competition begin!