It looks like a cross between the saute pan and regular skillet. I can see at least one advantage,
I have a 36" GE Profile Cooktop with 5 gas burners. Because the burners are of varying strengths, I find the most use for the two left hand side burners which are lined up one behind the other. I can't use the back burner for a medium to largish pot if I have a 10-12 in skillet on the front burner. This matters because the other two smaller burners have simmer settings and they don't have enough heat to bring a medium sized pan with much in it to a boil. The other front burner is larger still and is a double burner which I find harder to control.
It looks to me that the French skillet would take up less space than my conventional All-clad skillets, so if that would be an issue for you, it's worth considering. I don't know what the difference in cooking would be except you will have more cooking area than with a regular All-clad skillet of the same top dimension. I assume it would take a little longer to reduce liquids, but probably not enough that you should base your decision on that.
You'll probably love it no matter which you get, good luck with the decision.
