Scribus is available for Linux, including Ubuntu and other flavours that are user friendly, so it is available free of charge. Unlike many commercial software packages that beta test on paying users, Scribus encourages everyone to experiment with the software without charging you any money.

First, Scribus is free and open source, which is very important in a field so specialized as desktop publishing. Commercial software like InDesign has prices so high that freelance designers, schools or nonprofit organizations can’t use them. Scribus is not a perfect substitute for those programs but it’s a great alternative to create all kind of publishing material with professional quality. In Scribus there are some tools, like master pages or styles, which control most of the layout and design process. I like how easy is to integrate text and images and make them flow together. The placement of text boxes can be automated too, and it’s very easy to create pages, clone them and reuse them when you need. Mastering this basic concepts speeds up your workflow and makes you capable of carry out all kinds of projects, from simple ones, like two-page brochures, to fully illustrated manuals.

Scribus is a great alternative to expensive seats of Indesign or Quark. I'm a professional marketing communications creative developer. I used QuarkXpress for more than 10 years, then started my own business and didn't feel like paying for Indesign or Quark, so I started doing some research. Came across Scribus, Inkscape and Paint.NET, and I've never looked back. I've been using it for 10 years, and it's never let me down.