a) This has nothing to do with Ubuntu.

b) I used to like Scribes very much, until I realized one thing: GEdit can do everything Scribes can do, plus much more. It's more mature, and more active. Also, its template system (which is Scribes' flagship feature) is more robust.

Most people don't know how powerful GEdit really is. Take a look at http://live.gnome.org/Gedit/Plugins to get a feel for what GEdit can really do.