For those users who do not have any default email client setup on their computer, they can use the new feature in Firefox 3 which lets one set Gmail as the default email client.
The tip, shared by Gmail blog, will automatically launch Gmail whenever you click on a mailto link.
Here is how the tip goes:
- Go to Gmail and sign in. While logged in, Run the following script on Firefox by copy/pasting it to Firefox address bar and hitting enter.
javascript:window.navigator.registerProtocolHandler("mailto","https://mail.google.com/mail/?extsrc=mailto&url=%s","Gmail")Click “Add application” when prompted, as seen below

- Now to set Gmail as default, click this link and on the window that opens, select Gmail and check “Remember my choice” and press OK.

- Thats it!
Now whenever you want to change your default email client in the future, you can do it through Options > Applications and search for mailto.



















lifehacker has already written a guide:
http://lifehacker.com/392287/set-firefox-3-to-launch-gmail-for-mailto-links
Yeh thats exactly where the official Gmail blog got the tip itself.
That is a nice, practical tip. Thanks!