VMware can only work when u need to tweak a little. Coz they use rc0.d ....rc6.d and init.d directory.
They only provide RPM packages. Sad to hear that, me too, coz im using slackware. It a little of my time to do install it.
Mozilla-thunderbird? Never use it in my life, and i dono why? Hahaha
By the way? Does ur distro support Slackware tarballs or RPM or Debian packages?
If not, well, u don't have a choice then.
Compile from the sources.