The included script to install Mozilla Thunderbird was tweaked to allow it to autoconfigure an email account when the user launches the program.
Some autoconfig resources used were: http://www.int-evry.fr/s2ia/user/procacci/netscape/en/mozilla-autoconfig-en.html#htoc12 http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/MCD%2C_Mission_Control_Desktop_AKA_AutoConfig#Central_Configuration_File http://kb.mozillazine.org/Configuration_utilities_for_administrators http://mit.edu/~thunderbird/www/maintainers/autoconfig.html